Free Exodus: Machine War 1 Supernova. by Doug Dandridge Page A

their giving us away in combat with these people.”
    “Yes, ma’am,”
said the Marine, nodding.  “Any other precautions you want us to take?”
    She thought
again about one of the shuttles, hit with a hyper velocity missile that blew
through the hull, or ripped off a wing and its grabber units.  “From now on,
all personnel are to be in full battle armor, at least medium suits, at all
times to and from the planet, and whenever there is a possibility of contact
with the aliens.  That includes helmets on at all times.  Understood?”
    “Yes, ma’am,”
said the Marine crisply, snapping to attention.
    “I will not have
my people be easy targets for the fanatics among these people,” she said with
finality, then cut the transmission.  And I will be damned glad when some
support comes , she thought.
    She was limited
in the number of personnel she had.  Each light cruiser had just under seven
hundred and fifty crewmembers, Spacers and Marines.  Almost all of the Marines
from the Clark were on the planet, with the remainder, a couple of
squads, on-board as a ready reserve.  She also had over a hundred Spacers,
officers and enlisted, on the planet, more than she would normally deploy for
the initial surveys this kind of ship was intended to conduct.  Lewis had
also put a similar number of crew on the planet, just before she headed off on
her own mission to the blue supergiant.  Both ships could still operate very
well with such reductions in on-board personnel.  Unfortunately, as shown by
this incident, the Imperials needed more boots on the ground.
    “Message coming
in from Zzarr, ma’am,” came the call from her Com Officer over the link.  “Do
you want to take it?”
    “Not really,”
said Albright, grimacing at the thought of talking with the leader of the
Honish.  While the Tsarzor had been giving her problems, they were nothing as
compared to the fanaticism of their enemies.  And I bet when we get those
people we captured to talk, they’ll have a connection to the bastard’s country.  “Put him on, anyway.”
    The glaring face
of the Premier, really the dictator, of the Nation of Honish, looked out at her
from the holo.  They had given the native leaders com sets that allowed them to
send and receive holos.  The units were black boxes that couldn’t be tampered
with without causing a meltdown of all the molycircs on board.
    “How dare you
kill the people of my nation, Captain Albright,” growled the alien, primary and
secondary eyes all locked onto hers.  “What gives you the right to do so?”
    “Your, people,
kidnapped and decapitated an officer under my command,” said Albright,
returning the glare.  “Under interstellar law, that gives me the legal
authority to kill or capture the perpetrators.  And I have a question for you,
Premier.  Did these people act on your orders?”
    “That’s a
preposterous allegation,” said the alien, his glare growing even more intense,
if that was possible.  “I resent what you imply, Captain.”
    And of course
your people will not know from whence the orders originated , she thought.  You’re
too smart for that.
    “I order all of
your people off of my territory, Captain Albright,” continued the Dictator. 
“You have one day to remove them, or my military and police forces will remove
them.”
    “I would not
advise that, Premiere,” said the Captain in a low voice.  “You know we have the
firepower to keep you from doing that.”
    “And how will
you use this, firepower?” asked the Dictator.  “I do not believe you will hit
us with kinetics or nuclear weapons.  That is not your way.  Your way is that
of a soft people.”
    “Believe what
you want, Premiere.  But be assured that we will not allow you to use force
against us without our complete and total resistance, with every means at our
disposal.  And you also might see to it that the weapons that were taken from
my shuttle are returned.”
    “I had nothing
to do with