Freehold
Michael Z. Williamson
 Earth in the future has become a rough society where pervasive bureaucratic regulation by a global (and extra-solar) UN means everything happens slowly, permits and licenses are required for most activities, all law-abiding citizens are tracked by computer implants constantly, and workers at all levels are unmotivated. Crime is basically unchecked: rape and burglary are considered commonplace and unavoidable, though still punishable. Petty theft and lesser crimes are all but ignored, and blame is attributed more to the victims than the perpetrators if they occur. Kendra Pacelli is a logistics noncommissioned officer in the UN Protection Force (UNPF) until she is implicated in a scheme that involved stealing millions of dollars worth of materiel from the Protection Force. The UN Investigators are notorious for brutal interrogations of prisoners and the slow pace of the bureaucracy means exoneration is unlikely even though she is innocent. Warned by a friend, she decides to seek asylum with the Freehold colony, which is independent of UN control. She moves to the colony, though due to the expense of her transit she must enter the colony’s indenturing program: an individual or a company assumes her debt and she pays it off gradually by working and having a portion taken out of her paycheck. Initially she is advised by Citizen Hernandez and finds work in city park services based on her experience with machinery in the UNPF. Kendra finds an apartment close to her work, where she meets Robert McKay. He is a highly decorated Freehold Military Forces veteran and a pilot of renowned skill who is involved in various real estate and other business ventures, and she relies on him to help with her introduction into Freehold society. She is eventually introduced to Marta Hernandez, another veteran, who is a high-priced escort. Through her two friends, she slowly becomes acclimated to the totally free market society of Freehold. Differences she must deal with include total lack of regulation of anything, pervasive personal firearms ownership (including high caliber military surplus), relaxed mores regarding sex and dress (many people in Freehold go partially or completely naked without comment, and she eventually becomes involved in a ménage à trois with Rob and Marta), voluntary taxation, almost nonexistent crime, and minimal government infrastructure where voting only takes place to elect Citizens who serve as a governmental body and judges when absolutely necessary, which is rare. The total lack of regulation on commerce causes the UN to impose sanctions on Freehold due to safety concerns, and Kendra is laid off from her job. At Rob’s suggestion, she enlists in Freehold’s military. She is required to go through basic training (which is more-or-less exactly like modern infantry basic training) and then through logistics training before she is assigned a billet as a corporal. Her superior, Alan Naumann, sends her to noncommissioned officer training after a short time, believing that war with Earth is imminent and unavoidable. Earth soon sends a large group of prisoners and political extremists to Freehold, claiming Freehold volunteered to accept them. Against Naumann’s advice, the Freehold government accepts them. The malcontented people are quickly confused and affronted by Freehold’s society: the criminals who try to operate are often shot by the armed citizenry or challenged to legal duels and die, and the political people assume the lack of voting or regulation means they have no say in how things are run and stage protests and riots which have to be put down. Earth’s media uses these incidents as propaganda to suggest Freehold is oppressive and savage and must be civilized by force. A covert operation from Earth attempts to infiltrate Freehold, but the UNPF forces are grossly incompetent; they are mostly eliminated by automated defenses or captured by citizens or regular FMF military. In retaliation, a Freehold covert unit subverts and destroys the main UNPF military HQ on Earth. Earth uses that as an excuse to launch an invasion. Naumann becomes the de facto commander of the entire FMF military, which doesn’t attempt to put up a direct defense against the numerically superior UNPF forces. Naumann instead uses his military people to immediately organize the armed citizenry and conduct guerilla warfare. Kendra is stranded out in the rural sections of the planet, and becomes a commander of a local guerilla force. She starts becoming hostile and participates in some brutality and violence beyond the rules of war. At one point, her prior criminal record on Earth is brought up and a reward offered, which requires her to shoot some of her colleagues who want to turn her in. The UN forces are hampered by the realities of Freehold: 90% of freehold is armed, a large number are military service veterans, the planet has gravity 1.18 times that of Earths', they do not know the terrain, and there is no government infrastructure for them to assimilate. Eventually Naumann calls in the guerillas and organizes a massive counter-offensive in which Kendra is charged with holding an infantry line against a numerically superior force with little support. She is seriously wounded in the effort, but holds her line and the UN forces are defeated. Kendra helps with the systematic urban warfare to clean out the cities, and in the process is raped. Naumann uses captured space materiel to launch orbital strikes on Earth, causing massive death and destruction. Earth negotiates a truce, and the aftermath is covered: Marta was assigned by Naumann to seduce and kill the UN general at Freehold, and in the process got captured, tortured, and gang-raped for an extended period, so must undergo counseling. Kendra tries to help, but must also undergo counseling about her violent actions as a guerilla. Rob had crashed and got infected with a nano-virus which renders him unable to fly. Kendra briefly considers returning to Earth (she is cleared of her crimes and offered compensation), but is convinced by Naumann and her friends to remain on Freehold.