Chris Kennedy - A Pale Dawn

Shit, Lieutenant Colonel Walker said under his breath, looking at the Tri-V screen. Louder, he added, Yeah, thats it. Paradise. Never was a planet so misnamed. He shook his head, then added one more time, Shit.

What did the planet ever do to you? Captain Teenge asked. An Aposo, the captain was from a race that looked generally like the Veetanho, only a little more squat and rodent-like. They were also much more direct. Although it was rare to see the knife when there was a Veetanho after you, you always knew when you pissed off an Aposo.

The planet? Nothing. However, its indigenous life forms ate a few of my friends and colleagues. Its also where I had to kill my mom and dad. Aside from that, the exterior of the planet is a wasteland populated by stupid-looking cows and the giant sand worms that hunt them.

Is that all?

Yeah. Other than that, I dont have anything against it.

How do you know so much about the planet?

I grew up there. Walker shrugged. When I left, I swore Id never return. Thats a promise Ive broken nowtwice.

Maam? the comms officer asked. Ive got comms with the planet.

Good, the captain replied. Let them know we are just passing through but would like to refuel and re-provision our ship before heading out-system.

I did, maam, and they said they could handle that for us; however, they are requesting payment of a moreunconventional nature.

Captain Teenge frowned as she turned to the comms officer. What is that supposed to mean?

Apparently, theyve heard theres a war on, and theyre requesting assistance in fortifying their defenses in lieu of repayment for services rendered.

There are a lot of ships in orbit, the sensor officer noted, but theyre all commercial. They dont have any space-based defenses I can see beyond some customs cutters. How the hell do they expect to defend the system from a serious attack? Hell, we could kick their asses ourselves, if we wanted.

We could take the orbitals, Walker replied, but taking the planet would be a heck of a lot harder.

What do you mean? the captain asked.

Just what I said. Walker waved at the Tri-V display. Look at the planet, its mostly desert.

I see that, the captain said. I would assume that would make it easy to attack. There is nowhere to hide.

Its easy to get to the surface, maybe, Walker explained with a half-smile. The problem is that the deserts harbor a species of sand worm that attacks anything moving across them. Because of that, all the habitations were dug into the rock of the planetwhere you can find rock, anyway. The original colony here was started by a bunch of religious crazies, who were responsible for naming it. Once they started tunneling out a place to live, though, they found deposits of semi-precious gems and rare elements. Nothing along the lines of red diamonds, but enough to keep the colony funded.

A couple of mining companies came in to exploit some of the bigger deposits, and two underground cities were established to support the mining operations. I think their total population is now over one hundred thousand.

The problem you have in attacking those cities is that they are entirely underground, and they are dug in like an Alabama tick. Just trying to get at them would be a bitch.

Captain Teenge nodded in understanding. So you could bomb them and exterminate them, but actually capturing them would be difficult.

Even exterminating them would be difficult. Some of those tunnels go pretty deep, and that doesnt take into account the rock. A lot is just sandstone; however, vast sheets of heavy basalt are overlaid in parts like a damned armored plate. Paradise is a tough nut to crack, no matter how you slice it.