Justification - Part I

13th March

Ministry of Defence, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

The Ministry of Defence, like many other government offices in the capital, stands proud with a new paint job, surrounded by the crumbling ruins of the other buildings around it. I bite my lip. I hate coming here. It usually means I'm being ordered to do something dirty, and it throws this inequality right into my face.

Ever since the world's reliance on oil came to an end, Saudi Arabia has fallen into ruin. Without the valuable commodity holding the same value it used to, the wealth Saudi Arabia once held is now worthless. What money is left, has been kept close at hand by the Royal Family, and little is left for the common people of the country. And that has made me very busy. Just in the last two years, I've had to deal with a rebellion in the Hejaz, and another in the east. Not to mention the terrorist attacks that are a near daily occurrence.

"Are we not going in?"

I look over at my companion. Brigadier Mohammed bin Malek regards me curiously. The Brigadier is rather young for someone of his rank. He's been working directly under me for about three years now. I trust him completely, just as he and all my other men, have complete faith in me.

"Of course we are. Let's go," I say, and begin making my way towards the glass doors.

From the lobby, we are directed up to the Minister of Defence's office. The Minister of Defence is the current King's nephew, and one of the favourites to replace him when he inevitably meets Malak al-Maut. Usually, I have a general idea of why when I am called here, but today is different. I don't have any idea why I've been called to the Ministry. At a guess, I would assume it has something to do with the declaration of lunar independence yesterday, but I can't work out what that has to do with me, or Saudi Arabia. We don't have the ability to send rockets or missiles to the moon, so there is no way that we could wage war with the lunar state. Of course, we would if we could. The moon is what killed Saudi Arabia. Oil was replaced by lunar Helium-3 as the world's main source of energy, within five years of the lunar colony being established. Though, in fairness, it had been a long time coming. The move from petroleum based energy consumption to electrical energy consumption, was only helped along by the lunar settlements.

The Minister's office, as you might expect, is up on the top floor. To get there, myself and Mohammed have to ride an elevator that smells of spoiled milk and goat. The smell simply makes me wrinkle my nose, but I can see Mohammed's face going pale.

"Oi, what's wrong with you? Are you getting enough dietary fibre?"

Mohammed looks at me with a somewhat pained expression, "please stop, your jokes aren't funny."

From the elevator, we walk down the hall, and then are led into the Minister's office by his secretary. The Minister is a gluttonous man, both in terms of what h eats, and what salary he sets for himself. Looking at him behind the desk, it seems like a miracle that he managed to squeeze in there, let alone sit down in his chair.

"General Hakeem Al-Ta'if and Brigadier Mohammed bin Malek reporting for duty, sir."

The Minister nodded, "yes, yes, let's get straight to business, General, Brigadier. As I'm sure you've heard, the lunar colonists declared their independence yesterday as the Freehold of Artemis."

The Minister pauses, as if for affirmation, but both myself and Mohammed remain still.

"Well, there was a leak of information earlier today from someone on the inside up there, regarding their plans to survive as an independent nation, their government, their economy, et cetera. Within the release, their were details on something called 'Project Demeter'. This project involved a small population being sent to the dwarf planet Ceres in the asteroid belt, to mine asteroids for water ice, as well as other valuable resources. The report mentioned that the workers were Palestinians, who had been pulled out of camps in the West Bank and Gaza."

"Is that so?"

Honestly, I don't really care about any of the specifics. I just need to know what my job in all of this is. It doesn't matter to me what this Freehold did, or plans to do, I just want to know what part I am to play in fighting them. From there, I'll find out what I need to, to do that the most effectively. I don't need this Prince to tell me how to do that.

"Yes," the Minister continues, "the Palestinians were first transported to the moon via the spaceport at Tel Aviv, then left for Ceres onboard a ship called the Persephone. This shows that the Israelis were compliant in this. They gave Frank Scuderi access to the Palestinians, and covered up the launches from Tel Aviv.

The King has taken a personal interest in the matter. He sees this as an insult and attack on all Arab people. He wants to see to it that the Lunarians, and their Israeli co-conspirators suffer for this. We're not alone in this. The PLO, Jordan, Syria, and Egypt, are all already moving troops. Turkey, China, and the UAE, have promised air support. We're going to send troops in, and you, General, are going to be in command."

"Yes sir."

"You'll probably be granted command over the entire operation, and be working with officers from other countries, so your success and failure will reflect on the entire nation."

"Yes sir. I will be sure to bring glory to the nation."

The Minister smiled at that. I wonder if he thinks I really believed that crap.

"Sir, if I may..." Mohammed speaks, "...I understand Israel's complicity in all this, but I don't understand why we're attacking Israel without real provocation."

I bite my lip. Fool. That's probably the worst question to ask right now. The Minister looks furious with Mohammed, "look here, Brigadier," he snarls, "this is an order directly from His Majesty, the King. Is that not good enough for you, Brigadier?"

"Sorry sir. That wasn't my intention. Sorry for my rudeness, sir."