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.The joint training had broken down into several fistfights before their respective leaders restored order, but an hour later Andrew and Erwin had been arm-wrestling for superiority, or a point of order.Neither of them knew how to quit and they’d managed to sprain each other’s wrists.The Doctor had made a number of sarcastic comments about how many small injuries she was being called upon to treat, but after a few days, they seemed to come to a halt – mostly.The two leaders were also very inventive when it came to punishment duty.I smiled, thinly.If nothing else, the starship was cleaner than it had been in years.“No,” I assured him, as I staggered over to the dressing bench and pulled off the tunic I’d been wearing.Being naked in front of men and women had bothered me when I’d gone to the Academy, but I was used to it by now and wasn’t particularly surprised when Erwin joined me.I was glad I hadn’t seen him naked before I’d been volunteered for fight training.I would never have dared raise a hand to him.“They’re not ready for that, are they?”“Be glad of it,” Erwin said, as we stepped into the showers.The warm water sluiced off the sweat and drained away down towards the recycler.Cleaning that was yet another punishment duty.“I’ve served on ships where the Captain used force to keep his people in line.It never ended well.”I nodded as I washed away the dirt and stepped out of the shower.Water is always at a premium on a starship and while we could, in theory, mine an asteroid or a comet for water ice, it wasn't something the Captain would want to do if it could be avoided.It was against regulations to remain in the showers for more than two minutes, unless you had special permission, but I wasn't surprised when Erwin stepped out of the shower just after me.We’d all learned to time it properly, although the shower in the Ensigns’ Wardroom was configured to only give them two minutes and nothing more.“So,” Erwin said, afterwards.We were alone in the changing room.“I understand that you have something to talk to me about?”“Not here,” I said, quickly.I’d broached the issue with the Senior Chief and he had insisted on approaching Erwin personally.I hadn’t attempted to prevent him.They’d been friends for years.The Master Sergeant might not listen to me, but he’d listen to the Senior Chief.“Can we talk in your quarters?”“I don’t have any fancy quarters,” the Master Sergeant said, dryly.I flushed, remembering that all of the Marines shared a single wardroom.The Infantry had had to be spread out, but the Marines practically lived in each other’s pockets.They shared a closeness that even the best Ensigns never achieved.“Your cabin, John?”I nodded and led him through the corridors, before we turned and entered my cabin.I took a moment to wave him to a chair and turn on my music player, accessing a file of heavy metal music.Midgard Metal, the singer and songwriter, wasn't entirely to my taste, but anyone trying to listen in to our conversation – I was almost sure that the cabins were probably bugged – would have some problems.It was one of the ideas I’d learned from the Heinlein files.They even included instructions on how to subvert and overthrow the government, something that had convinced me that the system worked better than Earth.I couldn’t have hoped to find information like that on Earth.“All right,” I said, as the strains of Darkness Falls Upon Her Heart echoed through the cabin.“Listen carefully.”I outlined everything that had happened at Heinlein, from the deaths of innocent civilians to Ensign Gomez’s rape and my determination to overthrow the system before it killed us all, or led the Earth to ruin.I knew I was taking a chance, but I trusted the Senior Chief…and we’d need the Marines to help us.Without them, it would be much harder to seize the fleet.Without the fleet, the entire plan was dead in the water.“Interesting,” he said, when I’d finished.“What do you plan to do afterwards? Declare yourself ruler of the galaxy?”“Hell, no,” I said, angrily.I didn’t want the job and I knew no one who could be trusted with it, even if the UN’s experience suggested that interstellar government couldn’t work.“We just end the war – without the Peace Force, the UN can’t fight the war – and declare peace.We pull the infantry off Terra Nova and prevent further invasions, from anyone.”I didn’t bother with emotional appeals.Erwin would either go along with it or he would refuse.If the latter, we were in serious trouble.If something happened to me, now, the entire plan might be blown out of the water.“It might work,” he agreed, finally.“You know, of course, that some form of interstellar trade will have to continue?”“Yes,” I said, flatly.I suspected that Heinlein, Williamson’s World and maybe even Iceberg would corner the market on interstellar freighters, but that hardly mattered to me.Freighters couldn’t be used to wage war.If we prevented anyone else from building warships and didn’t launch any invasions ourselves, interstellar society wouldn’t collapse under the weight of the war.“And there’ll be a bloodbath when the locals realise that the Infantry no longer has access to orbital weapons,” Erwin added.“What will you do about that?”“Withdraw them as quickly as possible,” I repeated.“I don’t think we should be supporting them any longer than it takes to withdraw them.The local resistance fighters might even back off and allow us to pull them off the planet, along with any collaborators the UN created over the years.God knows, we can even try them for war crimes.”“If I agree to help,” Erwin said, “that’s my price.I want genuine war crimes trials for the infantry.I don’t want my Marines contaminated by their…attitude to war.”“I understand,” I agreed.Personally, I would take some delight in finally seeing General Hoover and the rest of his staff brought to book for war crimes against civilians.They’d probably use the following orders defence, but that meant little to me.They shouldn’t have followed the orders in the first place.“Did they have any choice?” Erwin asked, when I said that out loud.“What would have happened to them if they had refused to follow orders?”I scowled.“Point taken,” I said.The Generals would probably have been reduced in rank.The common Infantrymen would be court-martialled and shot.They hadn’t had much choice…but I still wanted to hurt them for what they’d done.“Will you help us?”“I’ve been in the service for thirty years,” Erwin said.His voice darkened.“I’ve seen hundreds of my friends lost, their lives squandered, because some moron back on Earth screwed up and sent them to die
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