With that Machel finished and looked down at his drink in deep concentration. Dravid knew his friend well enough to interrupt his friend’s thoughts. He was thinking of something and would share it with him soon enough. After a couple of minutes, Machel looked up and continued. “There is a bright spot to this. Alania saw your niece Catrina healthy and with children. Supposedly she will meet a warrior-scholar who came through one of gates from the home world. That doesn’t happen that often, the last case I know was Dr. Jorgenson, who came through almost 90 years ago. Besides the advances he brought to us there are somethings we know.
First, that scholars do sign up to fight in wars there. Dr. Jorgenson himself was a soldier. He refused to do anything to help us with the military because of how horrible the people on the home world have made war. Their weapons are supposedly fearsome. Therefore, we can conclude that somebody coming through the gate may not only be a scholar but have military experience. If he came through the gate armed as is the norm for a soldier on the home world, he could easily tip the balance against anyone attacking the crown prince and his family.
Second is fertility. Dr. Jorgenson fathered many children. His two wives bore eight children four boys and four girls. He also fathered children with other woman looking to have more children as a favor to the kingdom. His explanation was that our fertility was much less than the people on the home world. This was due to our women becoming fertile only twice a year and that the men’s fertility is also less. He demonstrated that with the magnification device that we know as the microscope. That is how men can be screened prior to marriage. All of that seems possible. The key thing is to make sure the royal family is safe and stays here in Nordport. In the meantime, I will do my best to uncover all that I can.”
After considering it, Dravid addressed his friend. “I know that you will do your best on this. Although I fear that even your best will not be able to uncover the plotters. They are too far in the shadows. And you my friend you must keep this to yourself. These people will try for the royal family. If they are scared off, they will just bide their time to come at the family again. Also, there is no way to dissuade my brother-in-law and the whole family from taking the Grand Tour. My nieces would never agree to not be with their parents. And my nephew, well if you told him that his parents and sisters were in danger, he would demand to stand by them. They are all as stubborn as the King. I know I live with his daughter and she has borne me two fine girls. Trust me when I say that they are all as determined as the king.”
Both men spoke for a while longer. Machel laid out what help he may need from the royal court and Dravid assured him that it would be forth coming. The crown prince would be Machel’s point of contact. They concluded that the most likely time for this was on the upcoming Grand Tour. That was still some months away. The attack would have to come near the Sud mountains. That meant the River Road that ran parallel to the great river Ro from Great Falls to Nordport. Dravid was going to do his best to keep the whole family from traveling together from Great Falls to Nordport. It would mean missing some cities along the way, especially Midport. He wouldn’t mention it to the crown prince, but his wives and he would work something out. With that the two men shook hands and Dravid went to collect his wife.
On the carriage ride back to the palace, Dravid gave his wife the full run down on his meeting with Machel. He shared his pessimism that Machel would be able to accomplish much because this was so unusual. Both of them knew that Machel would try his best, both out of loyalty to the crown but friendship as well. They agreed that they need to come up with several stratagems to keep the whole family off the River Road during the Grand Tour. If they could break them up somehow that may well turn the course of events. They also agreed that they wouldn’t tell anyone of their plans to break up the royal entourage.
The next morning Dravid met with the crown prince and gave him his report on the meeting with Machel. He omitted the part about breaking up the royal party during the Grand Tour. They devised a cover story that would allow Machel to visit the palace without raising suspicions. While the crown prince and Machel knew each other, they weren’t friend like he and Dravid were. The cover was that Machel was looking to open new trade routes and wanted letters of introduction from the crown prince to smooth the way. Of course, such things would have to be negotiated over a few meetings. Both agreed that it was good plan. Later that day Dravid sent a letter to Machel. All it said was that the crown prince was agreeable to meeting with him to discuss the letters of introduction. He cautioned him that it may be a drawn-out process. Dravid was confident that Machel could read between the lines.
Dravid and Alania returned to Great Falls. They felt somewhat better for having given the warning, yet they knew that all of this was on a knife’s edge. Over the next several months Machel met with the crown prince four times. The first time was to ask for the assistance that he would need. The next meetings were to keep the prince apprised of his ongoing inquiries. The only thing that he was able to tell the prince was that he his agents had heard of a great deal of gold and silver was being bandied about. He’d heard that from more than one source, so he had high confidence in its accuracy. The prince’s own sources had told him much the same thing. When he told his father, his only statement was the royal family must be worth our weight in gold.
The Last Deployment
After the Iraq surge, which the battalion had been part of, they were scheduled to stay in the states until late May when they were scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan. That time was fast approaching, and Mike found himself busy with pre-deployment activities. The teaching had settled down and he found that he enjoyed it. It wasn’t something he wanted to do full time, but helping the Marines trying to get their degrees was something he felt good about. This was going to be his last deployment with the Marines. It would take him up almost to the end of his four-year commitment. Nobody thought that he would reup and that was fine. He’d proven to his superiors, his peers and most importantly to himself that he could do this.
Angela had gotten her paper accepted by one of the better mathematical journals and she was excited. She also was thankful for Mike’s help and showed her appreciation. He accompanied her to faculty get togethers. He knew that this was a highly charged political environment and was happy to support her. At first, Dr. Remington, referred to him as Lieutenant. That stopped pretty quickly, much to both Mike and Angela’s amusement. Mike’s credentials were just to good for that kind of snub to be tolerated for long. Angela was angling for a position at the main campus at Chapel Hill and Mike was fully supportive.
One night before they deployed, the three roommates sat around talking. Steve started to talk about Mike’s future. “You know we’re not going to have our resident Doctor for too much longer after we get back from lovely, scenic Afghanistan. He’ll head off and do some sort of nerd thing. So, we’ll need to find somebody to join us here in bachelor paradise.”
Mike looked at his two roommates. “You two seriously think that you can get away with this bachelor thing much longer. I suspect that you guys are going to have to shit or get off the pot with your girlfriends. They are looking for rings.” Then he started to sing. "no huggin no kissin until I get a wedding ring. don't hand me no lies and keep your hands to yourself.” Then he broke out laughing at the looks on his two roommates faces.
When it came time to deploy it was the same deal. Ride to the airbase, get on a C-17 and then a long boring ride to Bagram, where they would then travel to Helmand Province. He did have one advantage on this trip. He’d bought one of the new Amazon Kindles and had loaded it up with academic books, plus leisure reading. It helped a bit on the trip, but it was still a long flight.
There was a long running battle with the Taliban in the province that the battalion was assigned to. It was one of their strong points and the US and its allies were trying to rest control of it. As far as Mike could see it was another semi-arid country only with a lot of mountains. He knew that it
would be hot in the summer and cold in the winter.
In July they took part in Operation Strike of the Sword, which was designed to help secure the province for the election.
Early in August Mike and the other officers attended a battalion briefing. The colonel got up and addressed the assembled officers. “Gentlemen, we are going on an operation in the next couple of days to secure Dahaneh. This is a town the Taliban have controlled for a long time. We are going to push them out. I’ll now turn it over to our operations officer.”
Mike and the other officers listened to the briefing. The next day they would be moving out in Humvees in the early morning to the outskirts of the town. There would be a platoon airlifted in behind the town. Once the briefing was over, Mike went looking for his platoon sergeant. He didn’t have far to look. As soon as he came into the company area, the sergeant fell in beside him. “Sir scuttlebutt says that we’re going to be moving out soon. So, what’s the word?”
“Sergeant, I hope that our turbaned friends, don’t have as good intelligence as Marine scuttlebutt. Yes, we are moving out with our Afghan friends to go visit the Taliban. I don’t think they are going to just pull back when we show up. I want everybody ready to go early in the AM. Make sure they got plenty of ammo and water. I think we’re going to need it. I’m packing a couple of extra mags for myself.”
“Yes sir.” With the that the sergeant went off to find the squad sergeants and get the men ready. Mike checked his own gear and then walked through with the sergeants and checked on the men. Stopping to talk with them and making sure that they were ready to go. He then met with the squad sergeants and his platoon sergeant. “Ok, the company is going to move through the town. I need to make sure that nobody gets to far ahead of anybody or too far behind. I don’t want the bad guys using that to get behind us. This is going to be house to house urban fighting. I expect a lot of resistance. So, make sure you plan for that and that the men aren’t surprised. If there isn’t much resistance, well that’s a bonus. Let’s not count on it. Make sure the men are rested and ready to go well before dawn. We’re moving out at 0400. Any questions.”
Mike then answered the few questions they had. When that was done, he went and got some chow and then went over all his preparations. He checked in with the company CO and then hit the rack about 2200. The next morning the company moved out. When they arrived at Dhanesh, they were immediately under heavy small arms fire, as well as rockets and RPGs. For most of the morning they held on the outskirts of town trading fire with the Taliban.
Mike crawled to each of the positions his platoon had. He was very pleased to find that he had no casualties. He talked with each of his squad sergeants and made sure that everybody had ammo and water. It was almost 120 degrees in the sun and dehydration was as much of an enemy as the Taliban.
Once it got dark, Mike’s platoon along with other Marines, began to move into the town. Mike made sure that his troops knew that they needed to have secure positions before first light. The Taliban didn’t have night vision devices and the Marines did. This meant that they could move and fight much more effectively at night. As Mike predicted, as soon as it got light, the Taliban opened up with small arms and machine gun fire. It took another three days of hard fighting as well as airstrikes by A-10s, Cobras and Harriers. But after all that the town was secured. They’d lost only one Marine, but one Marine was one to many in Mike’s estimation.
Once they secured the town, they settled in to hold it against the Taliban trying to come back in. Garrison duty was mostly fighting off the occasional Taliban attack on the town. After getting their noses bloodied a couple of times, they seemed to get the idea that it wasn’t a good idea. So, the Marines went after them. Static defense just didn’t sit well with the Marine mentality.
For the next several months there were patrols of at least squad strength near the town and platoon strength on longer patrols. Those patrols were either hot and dusty or bitterly cold. It meant humping heavy loads up mountains with the occasional firefight with medieval maniacs.
On one particular patrol, Mike’s platoon was in the mountains, miles from Dahaneh. It was just something that caught Mike’s eye. There was a side trail heading off from the one they were following. He noticed footprints heading in that direction. He stopped and called his sergeant over. “Sergeant, I’m seeing these footprints heading off down that side trail. They’re not ours, those aren’t boots. What do you make of it?”
The sergeant thought for a minute and then looked at Mike. “Sir, I think we maybe we should check them out quietly.”
Mike agreed. “Sergeant, get the men organized and tell them to keep it down.”
The platoon started to go carefully down the trail, looking for bobby traps. They kept seeing more footprints were there was lose soil. The finally came to a narrow gorge. Mike signaled a halt. He called his platoon and squad sergeants to him. “I want to send a couple of scouts through that gorge and to see what’s on the other side. They need to be as sneaky as they can be.”
One of his squad sergeants spoke. “I’ve got just the two for that – Ramírez and Wilson. They are the two best sneak and peek guys in the platoon.”
The two men were summoned, and Mike explained to them what he wanted to do. They shucked their packs and went in with only their armor on and weapons. They were gone an agonizing twenty minutes. Mike didn’t hear any shots, but the waiting gave him time to think of what could be going on.
Finally, they came back. Ramirez gave the report. “El Tee, that gorge empties out into a valley. Looks like about fifty or sixty bad guys there with a lot of supplies. There’s one sentry at the entrance. But he won’t be no problem. Wilson broke his neck and sat him on rock. All nice like. Now there’s a ledge above where the rag heads are. Lots of good cover. We get in there and we could put a hurtin on those boys.”
Mike thanked the two men and then he and his sergeants planned it out. They’d go through the gorge as carefully as possible. One squad would take each flank. Their SAW’s would be positioned at the ends of their lines to give overlapping fire. The last squad with support from Mike would be in the middle. That squad’s SAW would cover the exit from the valley to the gorge. When they all agreed to this, the sergeants went to get their men ready.
Ten minutes later they were on the move through the gorge. Mike was the first one through. When he got in position, he could see why the Taliban liked this location. The mountains made it very difficult for an airstrike to hit the valley and the gorge could easily be defended. They’d been done in by one sentry who wasn’t quite alert enough. Once everyone was in position, Mike picked out one the Taliban resting on the ground and opened fire. He saw his man jerk and the rest of the platoon opened up on them.
It was a slaughter; the Taliban were caught completely by surprise and the firepower that a Marine rifle platoon can put down is truly awesome. After less than fifteen minutes it was over. Most of the enemy were either dead or dying and Mike send one squad forward to check on the battlefield. They quickly dealt with minimal resistance they found. Then it was time to try and get some medical attention for the wounded enemy.
Mike got on the radio and let headquarters know what had happened. A half hour later a chopper came in with some medics to treat the wounded. A few minutes later another chopper landed with intelligence people on board. They started going over small valley. While they were working, Mike’s platoon provided over watch and helped the medics and the intelligence people as they were needed.
The final body count was more than Mike had expected. Eighty-five Taliban dead, eight wounded, three captives. One of the intelligence officers told Mike that they didn’t get the head of the Taliban in the area but did get two of his key lieutenants. It also turned out that this was a major supply base for the fighters. There were caves filled with ammunition, explosives, RPG’s and mortars. All in all, this was going to be a major blow to the Taliban. The intelligence people felt that they may be able to trace some of the
weapons back to Pakistan. Mike did not find that surprising as the Taliban were Pakistan’s creatures. He also wasn’t surprised to find that one of the wounded was apparently a Saudi. Mike viewed many of the religious fanatics in those countries with the same disdain he had for white nationalist Christian fundamentalists except that there were far fewer of them, thank god.
When the platoon finally got back to their compound, Mike was summoned to the company commander’s office. There he was met by the CO and battalion Intelligence Officer. They both congratulated him and then debriefed him on the fight. Mike told them about finding the tracks and following to the gorge and then to the valley. The fight and the aftermath. After forty-five minutes they let him go get cleaned up, get a hot meal and some rest.
The rest of Mike’s platoon were debriefed as well. At the end the intelligence officer said to the company commander. “Battalion is psyched about this as are the people higher up in the chain. We got a couple of key Taliban leaders, a major supply dump and killed a bunch of fighters. All really good stuff. This because a 1st Lieutenant from MIT saw some footprints and had the right instinct to follow them. Battalion is going to want to hand out some medals. Need you to write up one for Mulvaney, one for the guy who silenced the sentry and whoever else you think deserves it. Battalion will pass it on in a heartbeat up the chain. Shouldn’t be any problem.”
While this was going on Mike was thankful to be clean again and have hot food and a comfortable bunk. He was also pleased that they were able to inflict losses on the enemy and his people walked away without a scratch. That was really good. No letters to families, nobody crippled for life.
Through the Gate: The Chronicles of Cornu Book 1 Page 32