Chapter 7A

At 1800 hours, New Pittsburgh time, people all over the planet found an Internet screen and tuned it to the proper channel. Some were gathered around a single screen in the living room of a public housing apartment. Some sat in luxury apartments on the edges of the cities. Many were freshly deployed MPG troops on occupation duties. If they were near a screen they watched it, if they weren't near a screen, they watched their PCs instead.

When the speech began there was no fanfare beforehand, no commentary by reporters, no speculation as to what was to be said, no spurt of advertising commercials. The image simply blinked on, showing Laura Whiting sitting at her desk dressed in her normal garb, a dark blue T-shirt. Her graying hair was styled but not perfect, her face showed strain with large bags under her eyes. In that instant the planet held its breath. And then she began to speak.

"Citizens of the Planet Mars," she said, looking easily into the camera as she'd done so many times before. "By now you undoubtedly know that some rather strange events have been taking place on this planet, most prominently right here at the capital building. I will now explain in detail what has happened today, what steps I have taken, and what I hope will come next.

"I was elected Governor of this planet by a considerable margin. As I've mentioned in my speeches before, I ran under a false flag, proclaiming my allegiance to WestHem, and particularly certain WestHem corporations. This was done so that I could be put into a position where I could fulfill a life-long dream. My dream was not to rule Mars, but to free it from WestHem control and influence. My goal, as I've told you time and time again, was to bring this about peacefully. I offered many times to negotiate with the WestHem government in Denver and the various corporations that control this planet and its assets. I have done this publicly and in private, pleading with the so-called 'powers-that-be' for a transfer of assets over to Martian control that would allow these corporations to maintain a profit while still allowing us self-rule and self-determination.

"They refused to even consider this. Instead, they committed themselves to removing me from office in order to silence my voice. When their attempts at using legal means failed, they attempted to destroy my reputation with their propaganda arm — also known as the Big Three media corporations. When that failed — which it did only because of the intrinsic intelligence of you, the Martian people — they began resorting to other means, namely, the use of the WestHem federal government and it's law enforcement branch.

"Now I know that all of you are aware of this tactic affecting you, the citizens. They arrested hundreds for doing nothing more than exercising their freedom of speech. They shot down others like dogs. But while they were behaving like Nazis in our streets, stomping on our human rights, violating all we hold sacred, another group of them was working in secret, acting directly against me. They put together federal charges — charges that were completely and totally fabricated — against me as a means of removing me once and for all. As you all have undoubtedly heard during the course of this day, a federal indictment with six separate charges was issued against me yesterday in Denver. This indictment was followed up with an arrest warrant today — a warrant that calls for my extradition to Earth for trial. The charges listed in this indictment are as follows: Abuse of high office, solicitation of bribes, racketeering, gross incompetence of high office, and..." she offered a smile to her viewers, "... my personal favorites, incitement of terrorism and trafficking in explosives."

Her face turned back to serious. "These are six very serious federal charges against me. I refused to recognize the legality of this indictment when it was served and I'll explain why. For one, this indictment was handed down by a grand jury in Denver. Denver! On Earth. The members of this grand jury were not citizens of Mars. They were not my peers. I was never given the opportunity to answer to any of these so-called charges leveled against me. I was never questioned a single time about these charges by any federal officers. Does this sound like a fair and impartial investigation?

"Some might say that an indictment is merely a charge and that if I'm innocent it will be proven in court. I'm sorry but I just don't see it that way and I believe that most of my fellow citizens don't either. If I were to have gone to Denver and stood trial, I would have been found guilty on all counts by another jury of Denver citizens, after being defended by a federal defense attorney. No, this indictment was not a response to criminal activity committed by me. It was meant to be my removal from office.

"I have committed no corrupt acts, I have not abused my office, I've accepted no bribes, and I don't believe I've been incompetent in my duties. I have certainly not incited any terrorism or trafficked in any explosives. So when federal agents showed up at the capital building this morning to take me into custody, I refused to go. And I will not go until you, my true peers, tell me that I must go, that the events that took place today must end. As it stands now, I'm guilty of much more than simple corruption. I will now explain what happened today so you can all fully understand what it happening.

"When the agents showed up to arrest me, my security detail was ordered by me to stop them. I will point out that I carefully explained to them that if they thought the indictment should be honored, if they truly thought that I was a corrupt, incompetent governor, then they should not follow my orders, that they should allow the feds entrance to the building and assist them in the arrest. I explained to them that failing to follow the feds' orders might expose them to treason charges later on. Not a single one of my detail backed down.

"My detail attempted to take the FLEB agents into custody until such time as the matter of Martian autonomy was hashed out. Unfortunately the FLEB agents did not surrender peacefully but elected to shoot it out inside the lobby of the capital. My troops returned fire, killing and wounding many of them. Most of the outside detail, as you saw on Internet, were taken peacefully into custody.

"As for the other events at the capital this morning, the reinforcement of the feds, the pull-back of the New Pittsburgh Police Department, the peaceful surrender of the remaining feds, you all saw that on Internet live as it happened. I will not rehash those events right now but I would like to thank Chief Sandoza for pulling his men back at my request. This kept Martian police officers from becoming involved in a firefight with MPG troops and led to the surrender of the federal agents. That is how I was kept from being taken into custody for these fabricated crimes under the guise of this illegal and fabricated indictment.

"But as you know, some other things have taken place on this planet and above during the course of this day, things much more serious than my refusal to surrender to a warrant, things with far-reaching implications for the future of this planet."

She paused for a second, taking a sip from a glass of water that was sitting next to her. She set it down and then looked into the cameras once more. "I have known all along," she said, "that the WestHem powers-that-be would most likely not go along with my plans for a peaceful transition to autonomy. I have hoped for the best but at the same time I have prepared for the worst. I have moved forward under the assumption that most of my fellow Martians favor autonomy and are willing to take certain risks for it. As I've said, you will all have opportunity to judge my actions in this regard.

"Many years ago, long before I was elected your governor, in order to assure that when the time came the citizens of Mars would have the means to make ourselves free, I asked my good friend General Jackson of the Martian Planetary Guard to draw up plans for assuming control of this planet from WestHem authorities if it ever became necessary. That plan was code-named Operation Red Grab and today it was put into effect on my orders. Whether or not it was necessary will be up to the Martian citizens to decide and you will be given the power to shut down this operation if you so desire, but let me explain first what steps were taken and where we stand at this moment.

"When word of the coming indictment and arrest reached my office yesterday afternoon, I put the plan into action. The first thing that happened was a call-up of the entire special forces battalion planet wide. These soldiers were transported up to Triad last night and stationed there to wait for confirmation of the indictment and arrest attempt. At the same time, additional MPG combat troops were called up and activated down here in New Pittsburgh and in Eden. Some of these men helped secure the capital this morning but most of them were stationed outside of the Eden MPG deployment center, where they manned tanks, aircraft, artillery, and infantry positions. They too waited for conformation of the indictment and arrest attempt. When that confirmation came, the special forces battalion, who again, were given the free choice to back down from their task, invaded Triad Naval Base and secured it. As we speak right now, TNB and all of the WestHem naval ships docked there are firmly in our hands. At the same time, the infantry and tank troops outside of Eden moved in to secure the Eden Marine Barracks. That base too is now firmly in our hands, all of its occupants and weapons captured."

She frowned sadly. "Unfortunately these two bases did not meekly surrender to our troops. Thirty-three of our soldiers lost their lives in the fighting. Forty-seven were wounded. Casualty lists are being formed right now and the families of those soldiers killed and wounded will be notified shortly after my speech tonight.

"These deaths weigh heavy on my soul," she said, seeming to stifle a tear. "I know that is what a politician is supposed to say and I know that they rarely mean it but please believe that I am speaking these words with the utmost sincerity. Thirty-three young men died while following orders that initiated with me. Thirty-three people with families, children, lives. I will not try to justify their deaths with a lot of patriotic blathering. This was a tragedy and I want you all to know right now and understand that if we follow through with the course of action that I have set into motion today there will be more tragedies like this, some undoubtedly worse, and maybe too many for us to handle."

She stopped, wiping a tear from her face and clearing her throat before continuing. "Once the fighting began at the two bases, I ordered a general mobilization of the entire MPG. My purpose for this action was nothing less than to take control of this planet, to seize it from WestHem in the name of the citizens of Mars. This goal was successful. As of 1520 hours today, the Planet of Mars is firmly in the hands of the MPG."

She took a deep breath. "This is where my actions will stop without further consent from you, the Martian people. Most of you are probably trying to digest what I have just told you. You are saying to yourselves in disbelief 'My God, Mars has rebelled against WestHem'. But that is not what has happened, not yet. Mars has done nothing, I have. I have initiated preliminary actions to secure this planet in the hope that we will rebel, that we will tell WestHem that we no longer wish to be a part of their corrupt system, that we are going to carve out our own destiny from now on. But I will not, I cannot go any further without the consent of the people in whose name I am doing this.

"I've told you several times during the course of this speech that you will have the opportunity to evaluate my actions. I will now explain just what I mean by that. I am calling for a vote on this matter. I will give you two days to think it over and then you may cast your ballots via your Internet terminals starting at 0800 local time on Friday. The question will be simple. Do you wish to declare autonomy from the Federal Alliance of the Western Hemisphere and enforce this declaration by any means available and necessary?

"This is a question that requires a simple yes or no answer. But this yes or no will be the most important you will ever answer in your lives. Your future, your children's future, and your grandchildren's future rides on this vote so I want you to discuss it with your friends, your families, and then vote how your heart tells you to. Due to the gravity of this decision I will require more than a two-thirds majority of yes votes before I will consider the measure passed. I will also require greater than ninety-five percent voter participation before I will consider a yes vote to be binding.

"If the vote is no, either through lack of participation, lack of two-thirds majority, or outright defeat I will immediately stand down the MPG and release all federal agents and WestHem soldiers. I will turn myself and my conspirators over to federal custody to stand trial on whatever charges they can initiate. Lieutenant Governor Benton will assume the governorship and things, for the most part, will go back to the way they were before. If this is your wish, then vote no. If you do vote no however, you will never again have the right to complain about the unfairness of the WestHem system or the unfairness of their rule.

"But before you vote yes on the matter I want some hard facts out on the table for you to peruse. To gloss these facts over would be the worst sort of hypocrisy on my part. I want to make sure that each and every one of you knows exactly what a yes will get us into.

"Right now the timing for a revolt against WestHem could not be better. Mars and Earth are nearly as far apart as they ever get. It will take at least twelve weeks before WestHem can send any troops our way, but believe me when I say that they will send them. Mars is worth trillions of dollars to WestHem and is a primary source of food and steel. They will not simply let us go. If we want Mars to be free, we are going to have to fight them for it.

"Will we win?" She gave a cynical smile. "I certainly hope so but it will not be a cakewalk in any case. No matter what we do, no matter how prepared we are for them, WestHem marines will establish orbit around this planet. We do not have sufficient resources or people to prevent that. WestHem marines will establish beachheads outside of our cities. We do not have the resources or people to prevent that either.

"'So we cannot win', some of you may be saying right now. That is not true. In order to take this planet from us the WestHem marines are going to have to march from their beachheads to our cities and occupy them. Sounds simple? It would be if not for the Martian Planetary Guard. This is exactly the situation the MPG was formed to prevent in the first place. Now you have all seen Internet shows deriding our planetary guard force, proclaiming it to be nothing more than a 'speed bump', good only for holding off an EastHem invasion long enough for 'real' soldiers from WestHem to get here." She smiled. "Well, I believe we can do a little better than that. Under General Jackson's command the MPG is a highly and specifically trained group with excellent equipment and tactics. Their very reason for existence is to prevent, not just hold off, an armed invasion of our planet and if WestHem comes in here thinking that they're dealing with a simple speed bump they're going to have a nasty surprise in store for them.

"But as the MPG stands right now we do not have enough combat personnel for a prolonged combat operation. We need volunteers to sign up for service and, if you vote for rebellion, we need you right away in order to give us time to train you prior to the arrival of the WestHems. If you sign up you must know that you may die or be horribly wounded in this war. We may, despite all of our preparations, lose this war and you may be arrested and charged with treason if this occurs. I want that to be right up front and in the open.

"We may lose. I cannot, and General Jackson cannot guarantee success. If we lose we will be subjected to occupation by WestHem soldiers for the foreseeable future. We will be subjected to even greater persecution and prejudice than we already have to deal with. We will never be trusted, never! If you need a graphic example of this take a look at the fate of the Asian descendents of Earth. More than a hundred years ago they initiated and lost World War III. On Earth today it is still legal to discriminate against Asians, even those whose ancestors were American or Canadian citizens during the war.

"In addition to the tactics of fighting WestHem we have to worry about one other thing. Fuel. Fuel to run our tanks, our aircraft, our space fighters. This fuel, as you know, comes from Jupiter and is supplied to us by WestHem. It is the one resource that we are not self-sufficient in. If we are to successfully fight WestHem and gain independence, we must secure a fuel supply. Now obviously WestHem is not going to keep sending fuel ships here. That leaves us with the unappetizing necessity of trading with EastHem for fuel.

"Aside from the distastefulness of doing business with an entity that once bombed our cities and killed our people, this opens up several variables to the equation of independence. For one, I have not yet contacted EastHem and asked if they will assist us; if they will trade fuel for our food surplus. They may refuse. If they do, all is lost. EastHem is going to have to make a decision of it's own.

"If EastHem does agree to assist us, WestHem may try to stop them. I don't believe that they will since this will flash the cold war to a quick heated state, but they might. If they do that I cannot predict what the long-term consequences will be. Again, this is a chance we'll have to take if the vote is yes.