A Pillar of Fire by Night

by Tom Kratman

  Conversely, Carrera’s fleet, the classis, first engaged a Zhong submarine flotilla, then sailed under orders to Santa Josefina, to the east, and voluntarily interned itself. This gave a much-needed shot in the arm to both the morale and the various propaganda ministries of Carrera’s and Balboa’s enemies. Interned, the classis was able to catch up on quite a bit of deferred maintenance.

  With Carrera’s naval power thus disposed of, the Zhong made a forced landing against the island fortress dominating the northern terminus of the Balboa Transitway. It was a move as obvious as it was necessary; without the island, the Transitway could not be cleared; without the island, no landing near the capital, Ciudad Balboa, could be supported. Because it was so obvious, the defenses were immense. Between those and a few secrets, the Zhong were unable to do more than seize a part of the island, and that the most easily contained and least useful part. A substantial portion—some claimed a majority—of the Zhong fleet was sunk in the attempt. What remained, with the troops not committed to the island, bounced off but then effected a landing along the essentially undefended coast east of the capital.

  Meanwhile, in the city of First Landing, in the Federated States of Columbia, before the World League, Carrera’s wife, Lourdes, had thrown down the gauntlet to the Tauran Union and the United Earth Peace fleet, her speech ending with the words:

  “Come on, then, you fat and lazy tyrants. Come on, then, you tools of terror and of a murderous alien whore. Come on you political harlots. Cowards. Filth. Swine. We, the free people of Balboa, are waiting for you, side by side with our faithful and gallant allies and under the just God who stands above us all, but who stands on our side, not yours!”

  DRAMATIS PERSONAE

  in order of appearance:

  Patricio Carrera. Dux Bellorum, or Duque. Born Patrick Hennessey. Former officer in the Federated States Army, retired, moved to his late wife’s—Linda Carrera de Hennessey’s—native country of Balboa, raised an army to avenge the death of her and their children at the hands of Salafi terrorists. Currently commander, or Dux Bellorum, Legion del Cid, a former private military corporation, now the armed forces of the Timocratic Republic of Balboa

  Juan Sais. Sergeant, Fourteenth Cazador Tercio, (Top Secret, Special Compartmentalized Information) Maniple. In charge of a small team tasked with arming a Volcano FAE following an enemy landing.

  Virgil Rojas. Sergeant, Deep Recon Maniple, Fourteenth Cazador Tercio. Leads a small team of stay-behind scouts, in Cristobal Province, consisting of himself and Cazadores Domingo and Flores.

  Xavier Jimenez. Senior legate commanding Fourth Corps, charged with the defense of Cristobal and the Shimmering Sea side, near it.

  Sarita Asilos. Corporal, Headquarters, Fourth Corps. A rather beautiful junior non-com, a signaler, with a more than casual interest in Jimenez.

  Jan Campbell. Major, intelligence officer from the Anglian Army, seconded to the Tauran Union Defense Agency. Female, highly decorated, and “more deadly than the male.” Prior to her capture, Campbell authored a report, the Campbell Report, which advised, correctly, that the legion was dangerously tough and large. Ignored then, her star had risen, along with her rank, upon sudden and shocking discovery that her report was, if anything, conservative. Released, after capture, for reasons not entirely understood.

  Jamey Soult. Warrant officer, Carrera’s driver, confidant, and friend.

  Bertrand Janier. Commander, Tauran Union Expeditionary Force, Balboa. Effective commander, Tauran Union Defense Agency. Former chief of staff, Tauran Union Combined Staff. Former commander, Tauran Union Security Force-Balboa. Janier was once rather overbearing and arrogant. Events have muted those defects, leaving a superior general officer in their wake. He has, though, in light of a couple of sharp and unpleasant lessons, become something like paranoid on all matters Balboan, Legionary, or Carrera-related.

  Denis Malcoeur. Major. Aide de Camp to Janier.

  Omar Fernandez. Legate in the Legion del Cid. Chief of Intelligence, which includes counterintelligence. Crippled and wheelchair bound by a would-be assassin’s bullet. A widower, Fernandez’s only child, a daughter, was killed in a terrorist attack. Utterly ruthless and utterly loyal to his country and its war chief.

  Achmed al Mahamda. Warrant officer, Legion del Cid, Fernandez’s chief interrogator. A Sumeri immigrant to Balboa.

  Alfonso Ramirez. Tribune. A battery commander of a light, eighty-five-millimeter, artillery battery.

  Avilar. Centurion. One of the better centurions of Ramirez’s battery.

  Werner Verboom. Sergeant. Thirteenth Company, Royal Haarlem Commandotroepen.

  Van der Wege. Reluctant private, Thirteenth Company, Royal Haarlem Commandotroepen.

  Nadja Felton. Hauptmann (captain), Sachsen Luftstreitkräfte. Pilot and recalled reservist, would just as soon be back in Sachsen with her husband and family.

  Marguerite Wallenstein. High admiral of the United Earth Peace Fleet, a fleet of observation in orbit above the Planet of Terra Nova. She acquired her position largely through the actions and intervention of Patricio Carrera. The high admiral is of the Reformed Druidic Faith, repentant for her previous (“and they were many, oh, many”) sins. Still, she has a duty to her home planet to keep the barbarians of Terra Nova from breaking into space and trashing her system of government, even though she detests that system. She has a plan for Terra Nova, too, though that has proven, to date, somewhat problematic of execution. Lover of Xingzhen, the Empress of Ming Zhong Guo

  Xingzhen. Of indeterminate age but painfully beautiful. Empress of Xing Zhong Guo, or New Middle Kingdom. Real ruler of the Kingdom. Rather despises most men.

  The Khans. Referred to as Khan, the husband, and Khan, the wife. They are members of Wallenstein’s staff, highly valued, very capable. They have some rather odd views of marriage and sex, by Terra Novan lights, but are still quite within the mainstream culture of Old Earth,

  Ricardo Cruz. Sergeant major, Second Cohort, Second Tercio. Highly decorated. Battle hardened. Rather young for his job, in years, anyway.

  Francois D’Espérey. Major General, Gallic Army, Chief of Staff to Janier.

  Wanyan Liang. Fleet admiral, Zhong Empire, commanding the Zhong invasion force. Defeated in his bid to grab the Isla Real from Balboa, Wanyan has done the best thing remaining; he has succeeded in effecting a landing on the coast east of Balboa’s capital.

  Digna Miranda. Former restauranteur in Ciudad Balboa. Quite aged. Volunteered, along with two of her great-great granddaughters, to cook for Ramirez’s battery.

  Blue-eyed Rodriguez. A gunner in Ramirez’s battery.

  Khalid. Druze assassin and spy working for Fernandez, on assignment to the Tauran Union. Like Druze, generally, Khalid is loyal to his adopted homeland of Balboa. Pretends to be a Moslem, most of the time. Good friend of Ricardo Cruz and Rafael Montoya.

  Anton Pavlov. Medically retired Volgan sergeant, formerly of the Twenty-second Tercio, now working for Fernandez in Volga.

  Vera Dzhugashvili. Sergeant. Long Range Bombardment Group. Currently in Volga.

  Esmeralda Miranda. Ensign, United Earth Peace Fleet. A former slave girl, slated for human sacrifice and cannibalism before being rescued from a slave pen by High Admiral Wallenstein. Now effectively Wallenstein’s aide de camp and quasi-daughter. Also, a very distant Old Earth relative of, and dead ringer for, Carrera’s late first wife, Linda.

  Jesus Villalobos. Legate, commander, Tercio la Virgen, seconded to the Santa Josefinan Liberation Army.

  Claudio Marciano. Tuscan general officer, retired but called back to duty as a compromise candidate to command the Tauran Union Security Force in Santa Josefina. Capable and cynical, he detests most things about demilitarized Santa Josefina and rather admires his official enemy, Balboa. Much loved by the soldiers of the multinational TUSF-SJ, his task is a forlorn one.

  Ernesto Aguilar. Tribune, Escuela de Cazadores, seconded to Fernandez for a special project.

  Martin Robinson. Former high admira
l of the United Earth Peace Fleet, now prisoner, along with the Marchioness of Amnesty, of the legions.

  Stefano del Collea. Operations officer, Task Force Jesuit.

  Friedrich Rall. Executive officer, Task Force Jesuit.

  Esteban Sanchez. Corporal, Second Cohort, Tercio la Virgen, serving as a guerilla in the Task Force Jesuit rear area.

  Richard, earl of Care. Captain of the UEPF Spirit of Peace. Foisted on Wallenstein as a sop to the ruling class of Old Earth. Fairly competent but advanced too young and knows it. In love with the ex-slave girl, Esmeralda. Much cared for by Wallenstein, because fundamentally decent despite the class that bore him and raised him.

  Cass Aragon. Warrant officer, intelligence, assigned to Santa Josefina. Female, tall, slender, and light skinned, she blends in perfectly with the Santa Josefinan norm.

  Rafael Montoya. Flight warrant officer, though former infantry. Marginal graduate of Cazador School, hence selected for flying rather than leadership. Fine, but very unlucky, pilot.

  Alena Cano. AKA, “Alena the Witch.” First Pashtian of her tribe to recognize Hamilcar as Iskandr. Married into the Legion at a young age. Husband is Tribune David Cano. No one, least of all she, knows if she’s a witch or just supremely insightful. Dedicated to her Iskandr.

  Johannes Litten. Left-wing lawyer prosecuting, along with his firm, the legal action to persuade the Global Court of Justice to grant an injunction against Tauran Forces damaging the rain forest in both Santa Josefina and Balboa, as well as to order to release of guerillas being held by Task Force Jesuit. Believed in some circles to have been hired by Carrera or his staff judge advocate.

  Ignacio Macera. Tribune, commanding an almost tercio-sized cohort of the Tercio la Negrita, waging a mostly guerilla campaign in southwestern Santa Josefina.

  William Ruiz-Jones. Centurion, 94th Engineer Tercio. Inventor of the Diana, a form of camouflage for anti-personnel land mines.

  Roderigo Fosa. Legate and admiral, commanding the classis, or fleet, of the legion, currently interned in Santa Josefina.

  Alfredo Ramirez. Sergeant Major, BdL Dos Lindas. Brother of the artilleryman.

  Antonio de Lagazpi. Legate, commanding, initially, Fifth Mountain Tercio, and then the Santa Josefina Liberation Army.

  Moya, no first name, no last name, just “Moya.” Indian corporal, doing piece work for the legions.

  Pablo Carrasco. Legate, commanding Tenth Artillery Legion, “Terremoto.”

  Paul Cheatham. Sergeant and squad leader, Fifth Mountain Tercio.

  Richard Halpence. Squadron commander, Royal Anglian Air Force. Seconded to Task Force Jesuit and, later, moved to Cienfuegos.

  Marqueli Mendoza. Wife of Warrant Officer Jorge Mendoza. Ph.D. Author and philosopher in her own right, and, with her husband, one of the two main intellectual architects of the Timocratic Republic. Seconded to the propaganda ministry for some educational work in support of the war effort. The essence of pure feminine charm in a very compact package.

  Juan Ordoñez. Tribune. Mosaic-D Fighter Pilot with Legion Jan Sobieski.

  Conrad Chu. Captain (Warrant Officer), Coast Defense Submarine (SSK) Megalodon.

  Achmed Qabaash. Sumeri, brigadier, Army of Sumer. Legate, Pro Tem, Legion del Cid. Qabaash commands a brigade in the Presidential Guard of the Republic of Sumer, which brigade, sent to help Sumer’s ally, Balboa, was appointed Forty-third Tercio, Legion del Cid. Most Balboans who know him would agree, “Qabaash . . . mean motherfucker . . . glad he’s on our side.”

  Aaron Brown, AKA “Sancho Panzer.” Legate. Formerly of the Federated States Army, Sancho commands the Legion’s heavy corps, First Corps.

  Alexander Constantinescu. Dacian senior non-com. POW camp guard force.

  CHAPTER ONE

  The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

  The ceremony of innocence is drowned.

  The best lack all conviction, while the worst

  Are full of passionate intensity.

  —W.B. Yeats, The Second Coming

  Near the Trans Balboa Highway Bridge, Rio Gamboa,

  North of the “Parilla Line,” Balboa

  From near silence the air was suddenly filled with the rising sound of sirens. At the sound Carrera’s heart leapt into his throat. Being emulsified by a Tauran bomber that doesn’t even know I’m here is not my preferred way to go out.

  He forced himself to remain calm, then began following the signs to the nearest bomb shelter. That was also from where the sound of the nearest sirens emanated. This was a bunker in what the president, Raul Parilla, refused to hear referred to as anything but the “Gamboa Line,” but which everyone out of earshot called the “Parilla Line,” anyway.

  I wish, he thought, we’d come up with some method to modulate the sirens to give some idea of how far out the attacks were. I wish we’d even thought of it. Or . . . then again . . . maybe not. There are only so many secrets that can be kept. Our having the ability might have gotten out. That might have started people wondering why it might matter to us. And that . . . no, let’s not even go there.

  Since his return from the Isla Real—a return in every way less eventful than the near fatal trip out—Carrera had come under aerial attack; Let me think . . . must be thirty-five or forty times. For the most part, the bombing had shifted from the city and the island fortress out in the Mar Furioso, to the area in and around, especially to the north of, Cristobal. It didn’t take a genius to understand that that was the Taurans’ logical point of attack. It would have been obvious enough even without the bombing. The logistic needs of a modern army, on the planet of Terra Nova, demanded a major port. Cristobal, on the Shimmering Sea, was the only one available of any size, and the only one that was also connected to the road and rail net.

  Walking the well-worn trail to the bunker, Carrera half raised one hand. Looking down at it, he noticed once again a slight tremor of the hand and of the fingers that ran from it. That wasn’t there six months ago. And if I’m doing that, what of the troops that have endured twice as much and don’t have the benefit of even knowing why they have to endure it?

  He clenched the hand, opened it, clenched it, and opened it again. By the second opening the tremor had gone. Whether that was a physical thing or the result of the routine, he didn’t know.

  Just imagine if we hadn’t taught the Taurans a sharp lesson about “air supremacy” and the value of a high tech-low tech mix, coupled with unusual ruthlessness and an aviation branch that thought of itself more as flying infantry than as ever so precious knights of the air. Just imagine being under attack—oh, sure, a less intense level of attack—more or less continuously, rather than two or three or four times a day.

  We’d all be trembling wrecks that no amount of routine or exercise would fix.

  Course, buying us those breaks was hard on the Legion Jan Sobieski.

  “Jan Sobieski,” the Sixteenth Legion, was the air force for Balboa, and completely subordinate to the ground forces.

  At the end of the trail, at the entrance to a concrete bunker, a noncom of the Legion, an elderly corporal, stood directing troops to seats along benches or on the floor. There was a semicircular concrete overhang sheltering the entrance.

  Between the overhang and the deep jungle shade, the corporal didn’t at first recognize Carrera. Putting a hand on his chief’s shoulder, the corporal said, “Keep calm. Take a seat along the right-side bench.”

  Carrera removed the hand gently and said, “Any place will do, Corporal. As a matter of fact, let’s make sure we get everyone else seated before we join them.”

  At seeing Carrera, his country’s Dux Bellorum, the corporal stiffened.

  “And relax,” Carrera chided. “I can see you’re doing a fine job. But it wouldn’t do for the men to see either of us act nervous now, would it?”