Free America's Galactic Foreign Legion - Book 5: Insurgency by Walter Knight

even be
alive.”
    “Whatever,” said Private Barker. “No army is
worth being a member of unless you are an officer. Don’t worry
about me. Every dog has his day. My ship will come in someday.”
    “”Ship?” asked Corporal Wayne. “In the
desert? Ha! That’s a good one. Your ship will never float.”
     
    back to top
     
     
     
     

Chapter 10

    “The bacterial plague we developed could
potentially kill about half the spider population of the North
Territory,” announced the Legion scientist. “It is carried by
normally benign mites that thrive on spider exoskeletons. The mites
are usually helpful to spiders in that they clean a spider’s
exoskeleton, keeping it healthy. But this germ, once it finds a
host, is very nasty. It attacks the blood and lymph glands.”
    “Spiders have lymph glands?” asked General
Kalipetsis, alarmed. “This disease can’t make the jump from spiders
to humans, can it?”
    “That would be almost impossible,” advised
the scientist. “We designed the bacteria for spiders only.”
    “What are the downsides, if any?” asked
General Kalipetsis. “If we used this weapon, would the spiders know
we did it?”
    “Most certainly,” said the scientist. “Our
technological fingerprints are all over these little critters. Any
spiders that lived would be very upset at us. But the Arthropodan
Empire is doing the same type of research. Don’t think they
couldn’t release some nasty germs on us, too.”
    “That is exactly why we maintain a biological
warfare capacity,” said General Kalipetsis. “We want to have a
credible deterrence to their reckless adventurism.”
    “Another problem is that a spider plague
would kill our spider citizens, too,” advised the scientist. “It
kills quickly, and there is no vaccine.”
    “What if we release the spider plague in the
Far North?” asked General Kalipetsis. “Would our spiders in the
South be safe then?”
    “No matter where your release point is,
epidemic diseases circumvent all obstacles and travel the world,”
insisted the scientist. “You could never responsibly use this
plague.”
    “What about bio weapons that blight their
crops? The economic impact alone could be enormous. The Empire
depends on the New Gobi to be their galactic bread basket.”
    “We have wheat, fruit, and vegetable fungus
that we can release in the North. As long as we don’t allow their
crops to cross the border, we should be safe.”
    “Work on ways to disguise delivery systems. I
want to attack soon.”
     
    * * * * *
     
    “You are way overdue to address the troops,”
advised Captain Lopez. “The men need to know you care about
them.”
    “But I don’t care about them,” I said.
“Besides, my ribs still hurt when I move. Even raising my voice
hurts.”
    “Some people may mistake your humor for
cruelty and callousness,” said Captain Lopez. “But I know better.
Speak directly into the microphone and tell the men you love them.
They need a pep talk. Let it be a message from the heart.”
    I was nervous. The truth of the matter was I
didn’t like public speaking. I hated to be in front of crowds. How
does a highly decorated hero of the Legion come to fear public
speaking? Maybe it has something to do with my audience all
carrying automatic weapons. Any one of that rabble could turn on
me. I limped up to the podium, gripping it for support. I looked
out at a sea of bright young faces. It always amazed me how these
baby faces could be such a lethal fighting force.
    “Gentlemen, and Medic Corporal Elena
Ceausescu, thank you for saving me from terrorists. I am recovering
nicely from my injuries. Even though the insurgents should not have
ever been able to sneak into the tunnels in the first place, you
all did a great job of saving me later. This is not the first time
you have saved me, and it will not be the last – I hope!
    “General Kalipetsis told me just today in my
office, we legionnaires are our nation’s first line of