VIPER One: Countervalue

He had expected General Rhodes to be a pain, but the man was the easiest of the three. He had his own office in Government House as the chief UNAF liaison, and it was in here that Vasco met him, along with Sev.

  ‘Captain,’ Rhodes said, returning Vasco’s salute. ‘I was just speaking with your colleague here.’

  ‘Trading stories?’ Vasco said with a half-forced smile. In truth, Rhodes was somewhat charismatic, and a welcome change from Yashego—and indeed the frostiness of Brock.

  ‘Something like that,’ Rhodes said expansively. He was holding a glass of something amber and undoubtedly alcoholic. It tinkled with ice as he moved around. ‘Not heard of VIPER before.’

  ‘We’re new,’ Vasco replied.

  ‘Hm,’ Rhodes grunted. ‘Life is slow out here. News takes a while to reach us colonials.’

  ‘General, are you aware of the reason I’m here?’ Vasco asked, hiding the impatience he felt.

  Rhodes nodded once. ‘I am, Captain. You’ve come a long way for someone as unimportant as me.’

  ‘Your name has appeared on the Roster,’ Vasco said. ‘That’s the only criterion.’ In fact it was far from the only criterion, being instead the product of a rigorous intelligence assessment and cost-benefit analysis by JIC specialists. But there was no need to go into that now.

  Rhodes inhaled deeply, and let it out in a long, drawn-out sigh. He took a sip of his drink. ‘You know, for years the UN has ignored this world,’ he said, studying an old picture on the wall. ‘Decades. Oh, sure, they gave us the mines in Minos, tried to make us feel important. But otherwise we’ve been a low priority. We’re so close to the Ascendancy, astrographically. One of the closest worlds. You’d think this entire planet would be a fortress. But no.’ He took another sip. ‘It’s the opposite. It’s so close, so why waste the investment? Why put a Fleet muster here and a stack of MDPs and UNAF bases? When all of it could be lost in one surprise attack? Better to have all those expensive installations coreward, surrounded by a ring of early warning planets and DSRs.

  ‘Captain, I’m not Ken Yashego. I don’t feel the need to constantly remind everyone of my Ariadnian roots. And I’m under no illusion, either; probably, if I were in UNSC’s position, I wouldn’t defend Ariadne either—for the same reasons I’ve already set out. But Jesus, to be abandoned like this… it’s not a good feeling.’

  ‘I know, General. But you’re not the one being abandoned.’

  ‘Just everyone else. All four hundred million of ‘em.’

  Vasco nodded. ‘For what it’s worth, I’m sorry we couldn’t do more.’

  ‘Bah,’ Rhodes said, and waved him off. ‘You’re three men. You’ve probably got, what, a picketrunner up there with space for ten?’

  Vasco shrugged, nodded. ‘Something like that.’

  ‘Well then; what else can you do?’ He drained the glass. ‘Captain, we’re military men. We have our orders. I’ll follow you off this rock, if it’s what the UN wants. Hell, I’m not exactly disappointed. My wife and children hate me, so I can’t say I’ll be too sad to leave them behind.’ He chuckled, but it was melancholy with a hint of bitterness. ‘But people will remember what happened here. The Outer Ring will remember. And it will not forgive the UN for a long, long time.’