War of Alien Aggression 1 Hardway by A.D. Bloom Read Free Book Online Page A

second thoughts about fighting it. You get it? You understand why we're here now?"  
    Black propaganda. Cozen was creating a narrative - just the right historical narrative to accomplish his goals. That's why he didn't bring a gunship and assault troops. He was writing the story of the war's first shots: unarmed humans attacked in our own space. It was a story written to drive a righteous war.  
    Ram said, "Did you tell him to use Hardway because you thought I'd lie for you?" 
    "I don't want you to lie for me. I want you to lie for all of them – for Dana and Biko and his crew and Hardway and 12 billion people on Earth you don't know who are never going to thank you or know what the hell you did to save their miserable skins. You were a good kid and you're a good man and I know you don't want to do any of this. So far, Ram Devlin has been mostly the person he's wanted to be. For that guy, doing the right thing is easy. I need you to do the hard thing now, Ram. Like I did for you. I need you to do it for an even better reason than saving one kid. I need you to lie so that a billion kids like the one I found in the rubble can go on living and grow up." 
    "This... this isn't who I want to be, Mickey."
    "I know, Ram. And just for the record, I didn't get to be who I wanted to be either." She laughed once as she got up. She said, "Maybe next time."
    She stood up straight then. He remembered the pictures of Mickey Wells, the ones taken when she fought for the 2nd Marine Division. She stuck her chest out with so much pride in those pictures. She looked that way when he'd first seen her again on Hardway . Despite everything, she still looked proud now. Ram Devlin was really asking a different question, but the one that came out of his mouth was: "Is this...is this something you're proud to be part of, Mickey?" 
    Mickey Wells looked Ram in the eye and said it without a hint of doubt in her voice. "This is the most important thing I've ever done in my life."

 
    Chapter Seven
     
    "We've got 1.7 kilometers to cover," Cozen said. "I don't know anyone better in this environment than belt miners so I know we're going to make good time. Mickey, I want you scouting fifty meters ahead. D'Ambrosse, keep an eye on that knuckledragger and try to remember you're four meters tall. Don't get us spotted. Mr. Devlin, you have the rear."
    They bounded low and single file over the dim and dusty flats with ten meters between them. D'Ambrosse and the knuckledragger carried Biko's breaching charge. It was a 2x3 meter piece of high-density hull plating ripped from Gold Coast . D'Ambrosse and her mech suit bent it before they packed the concave side with mining charges.
    At first, the procession followed the gouges and scrapes the junk had left when she went down, but soon, Mickey began to lead them on a less direct route, following the backsides of the jagged hills and the bottoms of ravines that might hide them. Ram remembered seeing the shape of the alien hull and the tower mounted on the 'top'. It had to be 30 meters high. And it was set at least five or ten meters up. If they weren't careful or if Mickey picked a careless path for them, then the ETs would see the boarding party coming. 
    Dana hung back with Ram. When he saw an outcropping of rock he could pull her behind to get a few seconds of privacy, he didn't hesitate. He ran in long bounds to close the space between them and pulled her behind the jut of the rock out of sight (and comms) from the others. He didn't want to say what he said then. "Dana, let me and the others go in first." He thought maybe she understood why he said it, but she still looked angry.
    "Are you kidding me? You'd never say that to Biko." She was right, of course. Then she said something unlike anything he'd ever heard come out of her mouth. "This was a crime against every human and it's every human's duty to deliver the payback." She'd never said the word 'duty' before.
    "I just wish you were back on Hardway . I