by Scott McKay
“Be thankful we have them,” Latham said. “They give us purpose, and something to live for. A man needs that when his life is on the line.”
“I think that’s right,” Forling said. “I’m here for my country, and I’ll die for Ardenia. But knowing what that means, and for me it means Sarah more than anybody else, just clarifies it.”
“I could have said no to this,” Latham said. “I could have gone back to Port William and stayed working as an architect. But when we were down there fighting it out with those savages it was a different feeling. I’d forgotten that horror, Will. I felt it ten years ago back when I first enlisted and went on patrol in The Throat, and last week I lived it all again.”
“Purpose,” Will said.
“That’s right, Will,” Latham answered. “Purpose. I’m here because I’m meant to be. The Lord of All put me here to save lives by putting these defenses in before the Udar can show up and kill our men and by damn that’s what I’m going to do, because it’s my purpose.”
“We appreciate it,” Forling said. “And we will not lose this position.”
FIVE
Barley Point, Tenthmonth Thirteenth, 1843rd Year Supernal
Sebastian knew he’d be up late writing and dictating reports and messages summarizing the results of the day’s airship missions. He’d had Rose type up teletexts he dictated on enemy force estimates and troop movements he’d observed in Clyde’s initial reconnaissance mission, with runners bringing them to the base’s communications center for distribution to necessary parties across the country. And shortly after he finished those, and then began working on a longer report to send to the Ardenian High Military Command, Clyde and Ann Marie returned from their second mission of the day. It was just after dark.
Mills came into the command hut, along with Second Lieutenant Bradley Kyle, the pilot of Ann Marie. Both looked exhausted.
“Gentlemen,” Sebastian said, looking up from his desk where he’d been pecking away at his typewriter. “There’s hooch on the side table if you’re so inclined.”
Both were, and Kyle, who had been pilot of the Ann Marie in civilian life before being laid off amid Airbound’s financial troubles just before the war began but jumped at the chance to be re-hired as a military man, poured three glasses.
“I thought Rose was doing your typing,” Mills said, giving Sebastian a surprised glance. “Did you burn her out already?”
“Nah,” he said, taking a whisky from Kyle. “She’s around. I sent her off to get some dinner, and she’s bringing some vittles back. Did you guys eat?”
“Had something after the first mission,” Mills said. “You didn’t bother, did you?”
“No. I did not,” Sebastian said. “Too busy. I’m regretting it now, though. Starving.”
The two men sat down.
“We’ll do this formally when Rose gets back so she can transcribe it,” Sebastian said, “but let’s hear initial observations from the second mission. Mike, what have you got?”
“We need bigger bombs,” Mills said. “We dropped two dozen on that camp west of Battleford at an altitude of fifteen hundred feet, targeting was accurate, detonations were in good order. But the explosions simply don’t knock enough of the enemy out. They scatter in all directions and we end up blowing up empty tents.”
Kyle agreed. “If it’s me making the call, I’m saying we go in low and slow and just have at ‘em with the chain guns,” he said. “That’s effective, you saw it yourself. I don’t think the bombs are worth anything if all you’re doing is just attacking a military camp that isn’t fortified.”
“Did we even put a dent in them this afternoon?” Sebastian asked. The two men looked at each other.
“I’d really like to say yes,” Mills answered. “But we emptied, what--five thousand rounds of ammunition apiece? Ten thousand rounds between the two ships? And between that and the bombs maybe we took out five percent of the enemy?” He looked at Kyle.
“Not even that,” the other man said.
“It’s what we said before,” Mills observed. “You want two dozen airships for a mission like this and you can bring a real battle. With two at best, you’re just harassing them a little.”
“Any evidence the enemy is advancing on Battleford?” asked Sebastian.
“Not exactly,” said Kyle. “The ones we saw this morning weren’t moving. But it did appear there was a column of them moving off to the north toward the confluence of the Thurgill and the Tweade. They had wagons with boats in them.”
Sebastian scowled at that. “So, they want to cross the river at the Thurgill fork? Why do that? There’s nothing there to attack.”
“I have a theory,” said Kyle.
“Let’s hear it.”
“One Udar force hits Battleford and takes it out. Another hits Trenory and takes it. Right?”
“Clearly that’s coming.”
“I’ll bet they’re going to bridge that river at the Thurgill fork, maybe with a pontoon bridge,” Kyle said. “The Tweade narrows just before the confluence of the two rivers. It’s maybe five hundred yards across at that point. And they’ll have a front and back door, with nothing but open plains to run troops straight east to Aldingham or north to…wherever.”
“That would make sense,” Sebastian said, shuddering at the idea of a large Udar force on the march for the Morgan River and fulfilling his recent nightmare. “We ought to take out that column of bridgers, if that’s what they are.”
“But with what?” Mills said. “Are you sure that’s a priority compared to Battleford, Trenory, Barley Point?”
“True,” said Sebastian, with a frustrated sigh. “Maybe the best we can do is report it and maybe the Army or Marines can deal with the bridge if they build it.”
Then he turned to Kyle. “How did Eddie do?”
“Eddie” was an Udar defector named Edyene, who had been fished off the same pirate vessel as the headman Ago’an, whom the Navy was exchanging for the enemy’s prisoners from Strongstead. She’d provided much intelligence about the Udar force advancing toward Ardenia and had asked to immigrate. That was something which, owing to a long history of sabotage, crime and other examples of disloyalty and poor citizenship among Udar immigrants in the past, had been banned.
But Edyene was half-Ardenian, she had said. Her mother had been captured by Udar pirates and had become a javeen, or concubine, to an Udar headman. By Ardenian law anyone who was half-Ardenian by blood could claim citizenship. And with the Air Force desperate for personnel, Sebastian had put in a request to use Edyene as a translator. The men in his two airship crews, along with the support personnel, saw that as an inspired idea, seeing as though Eddie was a stunning beauty. She didn’t look Udar, despite having been born and raised as one; she bore none of the facial markings most Udar women did, and she didn’t shave her head like most of them did, either.
“She was fine,” Kyle said. “She pointed out a few things about their formations and order of battle that I think will be useful. I’ll have all that to you in a report I think you’ll find worthwhile.”
“What about the airships?” Sebastian said. “My impression was the first mission was about as clean as anybody had a right to expect.”
“Clyde’s never been better,” Mills said. “Fast, smooth operation of engines and navigation, guns stayed operational the whole way.”
“Same for Ann Marie,” Kyle said. “And damn, we have a good crew.”
“We do, too,” Mills said. “Really first-rate. We’re going to do good work.”
“Well, I hate to break up such stellar synergy,” Sebastian said, “but we’re going to have to rotate new guys into your crews within the next few days. We’ve got to train up a whole force down here, and we really don’t have the time or equipment not to do it live.”
“I understand,” Kyle said. “But what I’d suggest rather than pulling good men off a ship into a classroom while the missions are going on is bring trainees aboard as observers instead.”
“Subject to weight capacity and having them in the way that might be the best idea,” Sebastian said.
Mills had a scowl on his face, and Sebastian noticed it.
“Something’s on your mind, Mike,” he said.
“I get that this is no time to be whining,” came the response. “But how can we be in this mess? You flew around the world goin’ on nine years ago. The military never developed any of this capacity in all that time until they came in and bought you out, what? Ten days ago? That’s just criminal.”
Kyle nodded his head. Sebastian leaned back in his chair.
“It’s really something, isn’t it?” he said. “I never got so much as a letter from the army or navy until after all this started, and then it was like a stampede of politicians and fatcats coming my way. They were more interested in taking over Airbound, immediately, than they’d ever been in developing their own capabiliity.”
“What does General Dees say about it?” asked Mills. “If I’m talking out of turn here, let me know. This military chain-of-command stuff, I got no clue how any of it works.”
“Me neither,” said Sebastian. “We’re probably not going to stand on too much ceremony in the Air Force, since it’s all civilians here for the most part and we don’t have any time to learn how to march in nice formations. As for Dees, he tells me what he wants to and not much more.
“But what he’s made pretty clear is he’s not much on the High Military Commission and their decision-making. Take that how you want.”
“That guy ought to be running this whole country,” said Kyle.
“We could do a lot worse, given the mess the politicians have made,” Mills agreed.
Sebastian shrugged. “I can’t disagree.”
Rose then bustled in with a stack of files under one arm and a package wrapped in cloth in her hands. “Dinner is served,” she said, dropping the package in front of Sebastian on his desk while setting the stack to the side. “I got you a pork pie from the mess hall, and these files came from the communications hut. They’ll make for fun night-time reading!”
“Thanks, Rose,” Sebastian said. “Why don’t you go on home? We’re covered here, unless you two guys want to dictate your after-action reports now.”
“No, that’s all right,” said Mills. “I’ll write mine out and have it to you in the morning.”
“I’ll do that as well,” Kyle said. “No need to keep you late, Rose.”
“Thanks, guys,” Sebastian said.
Mills and Kyle made their excuses, and Sebastian began perusing the stack of files Rose had brought. After a few seconds, he noticed he wasn’t alone, and looked up.
“What’s up, Rose?” he said.
“Can I sit down?” she asked him, and when he pointed to a chair, she did.
“Major Cross, I have something a little on the sensitive side to discuss with you. It’s about Eddie.”
“Oh?” Sebastian said. Eddie was bunking in the spare room at Rose and Tommy’s on-base apartment. “Is she making you all uncomfortable with strange savage rituals late into the evening?”
“No, nothing like that,” said Rose. “But she seems to have attracted a gentleman caller.”
“Already?” Sebastian said, amused. “She hasn’t been here two days. Boy, does she work quickly.”
Rose gave him a serious look, which stopped Sebastian cold. Rose wasn’t the serious type.
“I don’t recognize this man,” she said. “I know everyone in Barley Point, and I don’t recognize him. He isn’t local.”
“Well, neither am I,” Sebastian said. “Barley Point is loaded with new people.”
“New military people,” Rose pointed out. “This man doesn’t wear a uniform.”
“Hmm,” he said.
“I’ve spotted her talking with him twice so far,” Rose said. “The way they seem together, it seems intimate.”
“She’s Udar,” Sebastian said. “They’re a little different in how they do courtship. Maybe she could use a tutorial on how we handle things in Ardenia.”
“Not that way intimate,” Rose said. “It was different. Not sexual, but intense. I find it a little…unusual.”
“You’re suspicious.”
“Well, yes. A bit. I’ll admit that while I like her, I can’t trust anybody who’s Udar right now.”
“It’s understandable,” said Sebastian. “I admit I’m taking a risk bringing her on, but we do need a translator. Let’s have a conversation with Lieutenant General Terhune tomorrow about base security, and perhaps you can give a description of this man to the General and his people. If nothing else, if he’s not supposed to be here, we’ll send him away.
“And Rose,” he added. “Keep watching out for this. If there is something else to it, I want to know.”
“Are you going to talk to her?” Rose asked.
“No, I am not. If this is something to worry about, I don’t want to let the enemy know I know. And if it isn’t, I don’t want Eddie to know I know, because it’ll be none of my business.”
“That’s fair,” Rose said. “I know you have a lot going on and I’m sorry to add to it.”
“Not at all,” he said, brightening. “At least this way if I get assassinated in my sleep you can say you did warn me.”
“A man after my own heart,” she joked. “I think we’re going to get along pretty well, boss.”
“All right. Get out of here,” he directed, smiling. “Tell Mr. Tommy hello for me. And Rose, thanks for dinner.”
“It’s going to get cold,” she said. “Eat.”
And then she left, her long skirt swishing and her boots thunking along the floorboards as she walked to the door of the hut.
Sebastian turned back to the stack of files and sighed. He was going to have another long night, and very little chance of getting back to the house in town he’d just bought at a premium.
Why did I bother to buy the place? he thought. Doesn’t look like I’m ever going to be there.
Tomorrow he was going to take another trip to Fort Stuart to meet with Hank Latham about his new air base, assuming the Udar hadn’t overrun them beforehand. He figured he’d at least stop off at the house for a shower, shave and a change of clothes on the way.
…
SIX
Dunnansport, Tenthmonth Thirteenth, 1843rd Year Supernal
Reese Bloodworth was a military man, first and foremost. But it had been some time since he’d been allowed to pursue that vocation.
He’d enlisted thirteen years ago in the Ardenian cavalry, leaving his home in the southeastern city of Summerwood, along the Rambledown River, to man the country’s border in the wilderness of The Throat. Bloodworth was a corporal then, excelling in bravery and marksmanship during his training at the Seton Grove proving grounds, and he’d been sent to the garrison at dusty little Fort Walder, on the western edge of the valley comprising The Throat, and had been put to work as a sniper holding Udar infiltrators at bay.
Bloodworth’s mission was sanctioned and ordered by a young major named Abraham Dees, who he thought might have been the best military commander of his generation. Dees operated from the principle that though there was not an active state of war between Ardenia and Uris Udar at the time, a contention which was highly debatable given that no formal peace had been signed between the two countries following the significant military rout handed to the Udar in Dunnan’s War, the tactics of wiping out as many Udar military leaders as could be practically had in the area around the border were what was necessary. Dees explained as much to his men, and Reese had made sure his commander knew he was committed to the fight, even to the point of what some would call going to the lengths of murder.
And that’s what he and his small platoon of horse-mounted snipers did. They patrolled the uninhabited mountainous border area between the two enemy countries, and when Udar did make themselves known around the frontier, they were aggressive in plugging as many headmen, or Var’asha as they were known by the Udar, a
s were unfortunate enough to show their faces.
Reese spent five years of his youth as a sniper in The Throat, and he thought it was the greatest game in the world. The enemy had none of the capability of Dees’ snipers, and when their leaders were put out of commission by long-range marksmanship, any nefarious aims they might have pursued in the wild territory between the two countries collapsed. Over time the Udar ceased to become a cohesive threat to the Ardenian settlers behind the front lines.
Reese wasn’t the best of the snipers, but he wasn’t the worst either. While stationed on the frontier he’d managed to score fourteen successful kills of Udar headmen, each time the shot being the precursor to a fast retreat to the fort.
But then it was over, and while Reese had been promoted as far up as Captain, he received a letter from the Army command in Principia that while his service had been admirable, he was being relieved of his duty and honorably discharged from military service.
It wasn’t a secret what was happening. The new Peace Party government was rapidly downsizing the Ardenian military, and as a result there were thousands of officers, particularly in the middling ranks, being sent packing. Reese had a sheaf of positive recommendations from his time in the service that should have feathered quite a nest in civilian life, and he used them and some connections Dees had with his own people to secure a job with the law firm of Davis & Helms in Principia. For three years Reese served as a clerk and an apprentice with that firm, and following that time, he stood before the Law Committee of the capital city’s solicitors’ bar to answer for examinations prior to admittance into the profession.
The committee found some fault with Reese’s answers, but not enough to deny him admission to the bar. He was sure that Dees, whose contacts and skill at helping his people were becoming legendary by then, had helped him become a solicitor despite what he knew was a mediocre and uninspired preparation for the work.
For the next three years, he managed to avoid disgrace to his mentor. Reese handled several different kinds of legal matters for Davis & Helms, including maritime issues, title work, wills and trusts and a few business-law cases. He enjoyed his time living in the capital city and sampling the delights it offered to go with the salary which made sampling them possible, but as to the work…it did nothing for him.