Sotina was tired, so very tired. It was a bone weary kind of tired that shamed the exhaustion she had known on her home planet. Dukenau IV did that to people, especially to Terrans. The atmosphere had less oxygen, so she was always panting for air. The high G planet also made just moving a chore. She was only five foot three and barely weighed 100 pounds on earth, but here she weighted nearly 175 and her muscles ached by the end of the day. Even her bio-enhanced body felt the strain.
Dukenau IV was just marginally habitable, but it was mineral rich. The majority of the population were transient miners. A few administrators, accountants, and other professionals handled all of the white-collar work of running the planet. They stayed in a self-sustaining complex with artificially induced gravity and air. A cottage industry had sprung up catering to the miners in the few "cities" on the planet. Brothels, bars, and flophouses outnumbered regular buildings, with most of the workers living in prefab hovels.
Sotina was one of the thirty colonial marines on planet. Dukenau was well within the terran sphere, so their duties were more constabulary than defensive. She was the lone woman in the company and Dukenau provided hardships other than just physical for her. Unlike her fellow marines she couldn't go out on leave and enjoy the limited diversions the main city of Tharp had to offer. On a world like this there were only two kinds of women, those who did it for money and those who were "good" women. The good women category included a few entrepreneurs, the wives and daughters of the administrators and the occasional Sky pilot. "Good" women were never found out in bars and thus any female who was in such environs was assumed to be fair game.
She could of course wear her uniform, but that defeated the purpose of going out, nothing ever happened when a Marine was around. Even the toughest miners had learned in the school of hard knocks to avoid the Marines. Combat trained and bio-enhanced a single Marine was more than enough to keep a city like Tharp in line. In her combat armor and carrying her Mk 7001 assault cannon she was more than a match for the whole population of the planet. Diversion could be had with the members of her company of course, but Sotina avoided that. She had seen too many instances where personal ties to fellow marines had ended up costing both dearly. She had also cultivated something of an Ice queen reputation that discouraged replacements from pressing a suit.
She had been on patrol at the Caravack mines for most of the day and now sat on a bench in the barracks locker room. She was too tired to even begin the complicated process of removing her armor. Corporal Tasker and Private Runyard had already changed into street clothes and left so she had the place to herself.
She was still sitting there when she heard raised voices coming from the duty station. The argument escalated and she was actually beginning to get curious when the door opened and the young Navy Captain stormed in.
"Excuse me Gunny," he said, looking embarrassed.
"No sweat," she replied.
"Do you happen to know who's on right now?"
She depressed the stud in her left gauntlet that unlocked the small repeater housed on her forearm and then punched in a series of codes with her other hand.
"Marks is over at the mines and Dayton is on patrol in Tharp. Why?"
"The planetary governor is out front raising hell."
"What's he want?"
"A marine detachment."
She laughed then. The young officer was staring at her, but then he too broke out in a grin.
"Civilians."
"Yeah. But this one is at least nominally my superior and he's being a bigger ass than usual."
"I'll deal with him for you," she said, rising and putting her helmet back on.
"Thanks gunny," he said.
"No problem," she replied, her voice now sounding deep and menacing, piped through a distortion matrix for just that effect.
She walked through the doors, into the small adjoining anteroom, where a few desks and a bench were set up to handle visitors and complaints. This was Navy territory, not her problem, but the Captain was a good kid and she didn't see any reason for him to catch shit if the governor was asking after Marines.
He was a gaunt man, with thin lips. Sotina never really noticed more about him. She just remembered how those lips could go from obsequious smile to sneer depending on whom he was addressing.
"There you are," he said imperiously, "Call out your men and report to my chambers."
"Have you declared martial law?" she asked.
"What? No, of course not!"
"Then I don't take orders from you," she said, turning on her heels.
"Captain! I order you to have this insubordinate trash thrown in irons!" the gaunt man demanded.
"I don't have any authority over the Marine detachment here," he stated flatly.
"You there, come back this instant, I didn't dismiss you!"
She sighed heavily and turned, walking up to him and grabbing the front of his expensively tailored robes. With little effort she hoisted him up and off the floor.
"Understand this. I don't care who you were blowing or who you had your old lady putting out for to get where you are. It cuts no ice with me. Your fancy robes, your tokens of office and the rest of the crap. Makes me no never mind. The imperial Marine detachment on this jerkwater planet is my responsibility and I answer to no one other than the Regional military command on Solstice. The only way you give me orders is if you declare a state of emergency. Otherwise, you ask like everyone else who thinks their problem is the empire's. You got it?"
When he didn't respond she shook him for emphasis.
"I...Can't...Hear...YOU!"
"I'm sorry," he said, almost choking on his pride as he did so.
She lowered him to the floor and stepped back. Hers was an autonomous command, but she didn't want to push the issue too far. Part of the reason she even had it was because she was judicious in the use of force and more or less careful in exerting her authority. Command would back her one hundred percent on refusing to surrender her authority to a planetary official, but they would bar-b-que her ass for causing problems if his complaint were legit.
"Now, what do you need from His majesty's forces?" she asked reasonably.
"I need a detachment to provide protection for a very important visitor," he said, trying to regain his dignity as he straightened his robes.
"If I provided even a man to every person who visits here who thinks they deserve protection I wouldn't have a command. Planetary bodyguards are the navy's responsibility."
"I offered to send some men," the Captain added.
"And I want marines," he said, regaining some of his earlier arrogance.
"Want in one hand, shit in the other, see which gets full first."
"You really are an insufferable man," the governor said.
"Said the pot to the kettle."
"I haven't time for this. Will you, Please, send some men?"
