A Pillar of Fire by Night

by Tom Kratman

  At least on this planet.

  To his front, out in the Shimmering Sea, a Tauran destroyer rode low in the water, barely making headway, and firing with guns not entirely suitable to the purpose.

  That purpose should have been to fight off the tanks now forming on the high ground above the beach and the beach itself, to smash any Tauran attempt at relief of the town or evacuation of its defenders.

  To his right, a Jaguar fired its one-twenty-five. The flash on the ship came about a second later and seemed to be right at the water line. That meant three things. One was that, as the ship settled down further, the ingress would be another leak. It also meant that there was very likely a new jagged tear or two on the other side, now gushing water, where a projectile, or its parts, having gone unstable, ripped the hull from the inside out. The third matter was that, in between those two events, any Tauran crewman unfortunate enough to be caught was going to be something between hurt and homogenized, if not even pasteurized.

  How do they even control flooding when they’ve got that many rips through the hull? Brown wondered.

  Two more hits and then another three and the destroyer simply turned over. In his field glasses, Brown saw very few heads pop to the surface after that.

  Down below, Sancho Panzer’s communications sergeant began elbowing him frantically on the thigh. “What is it, Escovar?”

  “Sir! Sir! General call from headquarters, all bands, both clear and encrypted! The Taurans have surrendered! We’ve won, sir, we’ve won! All our forces are ordered to defend themselves if attacked, but otherwise to cease offensive action and to take charge of the Taurans and render them all reasonable aid in caring for their wounded. Jesus, fuck, sir, we won!”

  EPILOGUE

  I

  World League, First Landing, Federated States of Columbia

  Lourdes Carrera, five-eight, slender, and all-around sexy, with eyes the size of moons, was dressed for business. She wore only a minimum of jewelry, and bore what appeared to be—but wasn’t—about five minutes’ worth of hair and makeup. Thus, she strode to the rostrum of the League Assembly. Her heels clicked like a tocsin of despair and doom. Once there, she smiled wickedly at the bank of shocked and distressed Tauran diplomats.

  Diplomacy, in the nicer sense, was not actually one of Lourdes’s personal strengths.

  She spoke directly to them. “Point the first: Now that the armies, navies, and air forces that you sent against us are no longer necessary obstacles to our peaceful reconciliation, we may perhaps begin anew our peace negotiations. I tell you with all sincerity that you had best hurry, for a calamity is about to befall you all, a calamity that you either willfully blinded yourself to or lied to your own people about. We did not create this calamity, but we have done our best, as you have been doing your worst, to enhance it. You will admit, at this point, I am sure, that we have proven most adept at creating and enhancing calamities for you. You’re going to want to do your best, this time, in mitigating this one.

  “By the way, you fish-faced enemies of the people; time is running out for your entire rotten and corrupt class. Soon, very soon, you shall hear the people sing.”

  At that she went silent while the other representatives of Colombia del Norte and Colombia Central stood as one and sang a somewhat out of key rendition of, “Fuck the Tauran Union.” They’d had their place in the victory, too, and knew it. It was not impossible that those delegations had been drinking.

  When the singing was over, and the laughing Latins sat back down, Lourdes again turned her gaze back to the assembly, and then to the official observer from United Earth. “And, Point the second: As for you swine, after having seen your long and filthy list of depredations against us, the Senate of Balboa, a legal quorum having met, directs me to inform you that a state of war shall exist between the Timocratic Republic of Balboa and United Earth as of this morning, at eleven hundred hours, our time.

  “You Earthpig filth are going to lose just as stinking as the Taurans, too. My husband comes for you. My son comes for you. Our people come for you. In fire and lightning, they come for you. With blood in their eyes, they come for you. In tempest and thunder, they come for you. Like vengeful gods and avenging angels, they come for you.

  “Tremble for your fate; you cannot avoid it.”

  In silence, unable even to comprehend what she had just declared, so far from sanity did it seem to them, virtually the entire non-Spanish speaking assembly of the World League of Terra Nova sat shocked and stunned. The doom she promised to Old Earth, and the doom just visited by her country on the Tauran Union, was, they sensed, their doom as well.

  II

  National Assembly Aserri, Santa Josefina

  Most of the assembly wore battle dress now, though a few score, longtime friends of the revolution, wore their usual business attire. Other members of the assembly were either in flight with the rump of Marciano’s brigade, or at large, or in prison, or joining the rapidly growing piles of rapidly cooling bodies in a fly-swarming ditch by that prison.

  The soldiers had taken over the legislature, as seemed only fit, having won it by force of arms. They would, they had resolved, relinquish power as soon as fighters could be demobilized, qualified citizen rolls organized, and elections run.

  Lagazpi was nowhere to be seen. In fact, he was having a drink with his staff in a nearby bar.

  The country’s interim president, Legate Salas, read off the proposal under consideration: “Be it resolved then, that a state of war shall exist between the newly formed Timocratic Republic of Santa Josefina and both the Tauran Union and the Empire of the Zhong. All in favor?”

  The massive hall shook with a resounding “Aye.”

  “Opposed?”

  There was not a single nay even whispered.

  “So is it resolved. Ladies and gentleman, we are at war. Our next item of business: Be it resolved that Santa Josefina shall extend to our Balboan brothers an offer of full alliance, under their command. In favor?”

  “AYE!”

  III

  BdL Dos Lindas, Puerto Bruselas

  Across the bay, the heavy cruiser Tadeo Kurita poured steam from her stacks as her nuclear power plant, long unstrained, suddenly was prodded into full life. Other, lesser ships, non-nuclear, poured forth clouds of thick white smoke. Like the Kurita, the dos Lindas gave off steam. She also gave off the sounds of a warship readying for action.

  On the carrier’s deck, both fore and aft, elevators rose and fell, lifting and depositing above the ship’s complement of strike aircraft.

  “Slow they may be,” Fosa said, “but in the kingdom of the blind the one-eyed shall be king.”

  From behind, the ship’s senior non-com, Sergeant Major Ramirez, asked, “Son of a bitch planned this all along, didn’t he, Skipper?”

  “He did, Sergeant Major,” Fosa answered, without turning. “He said this fleet must remain intact and that the only way of making it so was to intern it. He also said the internment would end in good time. I had, I confess, my doubts.”

  “When’s the internment officially over?” Ramirez asked.

  “It was over the second the Santa Josefinans declared war on our enemies.”

  “Son of a bitch.”

  “Yeah, but he’s our son of a bitch.”

  IV

  Barco de La Legion ALTA

  (Armada Legionario Transporte de Assalto), Mar Furioso

  The speakers on the bridge sounded off with, “Terra Nova, Terra Nova, this is Radio Balboa calling to our friends around the world. We have the following notifications and messages: Austin’s wheelchair is very cheap. I repeat, Austin’s wheelchair is very cheap. Gary the welcher has only middling intelligence. I say again, Gary the welcher has only middling intelligence. Lourdes has a magnificent ass. Need I say again? Lourdes has a magnificent ass. And now a riddle: What is gray, has long ears, and eats grass? I ask again . . .”

  “She’s my mother,” Ham said. “I really never noticed, though I think my dad
would agree.”

  “She’s got more than a shapely butt, Ham,” Terry Johnson said. He passed over to the boy a message received earlier that morning.

  The boy read it, smiled, and said, “You know, for all her sweet exterior and her big, soulful eyes, my mom is really a cast-iron bitch.”

  “Yeah, but she’s your dad’s bitch.”

  Johnson told the captain of the ship, “Launch the Condors. Unmask air defense. Unmask long range missiles. Prepare to bring the helicopters on deck. Prepare the hovercraft for launch. Order the landing force to the assembly decks. Make heading and full speed for our launch and assault position.”

  “Aye, Legate.”

  V

  Oppenheim, Sachsen

  Khalid watched as, from the Oppenheimer Mosque, in groups of ten, or twenty, or fifty, or one hundred, young men quasi-uniformed but fully armed poured forth into the streets and began the hunt for their quarry. For the most part, this involved the police and such reserve armories as were to be found in the city. They also had lists, prepared by their imam, of those he considered the most depraved of Sachsen citizens in the town. This included large numbers of atheists, Tsarist-Marxists, and Kosmos, to the extent those categories differed. From the point of view of the iman and his minions, their fighters would merely be purging this world of the very people condemned in Allah’s Own Voice, in the Quran. From the point of view of Khalid, Fernandez, and Carrera, on the other hand, they would be purging those most responsible for the existence of the Tauran Union, as well as those most likely to object to the Union’s abject surrender to Balboan demands.

  Sometimes, thought Khalid, even devout enemies can find common ground.

  VI

  Isla Real, Balboa

  I am going to hang that treasonous bitch by her heels, thought former High Admiral Robinson, in contemplation of his revenge on Marguerite Wallenstein. He’d had years, many years and hard ones, to perfect his revenge. Then I am going to slit her belly open, and pull her guts out with my own hands. I’ll burn them before her eyes. Then we’ll shoot her up with antibiotics so infection doesn’t kill her before I am ready to let her go.

  His gaze shifted so that he could look upon the two crosses set up outside his holding cell and the Marchioness of Amnesty’s. His smile was positively beatific as he thought. Then it will be the nails, but on a low gravity part of the ship . . . I’ll move my own quarters down there so I can hear her scream for days or maybe even weeks. I wonder how long someone could last on the cross on the hangar deck. Wouldn’t that be nice?

  Robinson’s reveries were interrupted when his cell door opened, followed by the entrance of his chief keeper, his physical training instructor, and the tailor.

  “Time to get dressed, High Admiral,” said the former. “We have places to go and people to kill.”

  APPENDIX A

  GLOSSARY

  AdC: Aide de Camp, an assistant to a senior officer.

  Adourgnac: A Gallic Brandy, alleged to have considerable medicinal value, produced from ten different kinds of grapes, of which the four principal ones are Maurice Baco, Cubzadais, Canut, and Trebbiano. There is an illegal digestif produced from the brandy that includes a highly dilute extract from the fruit of the Tranzitree, qv.

  Ala: Plural: Alae. Latin: Wing, as in wing of cavalry. Air Wing in the legion. Similar to Tercio, qv.

  ALTA, MV: a ship, owned by the Legions. The title is an acronym for “Armada Legionario, Transporte de Assalto.”

  Amid: Arabic: brigadier general.

  Antania: Plural: Antaniae, septic-mouthed winged reptilians, possibly genengineered by the Noahs, AKA Moonbats.

  ARE-12P: A Gallic Infantry Fighting Vehicle

  Artem-Mikhail-

  23-465 Aurochs: An obsolescent jet fighter, though much updated.

  Artem-Mikhail 82: Aka “Mosaic D,” an obsolete jet fighter, product improved in Balboan hands to be merely obsolescent.

  ASW: Anti-Submarine Warfare.

  BdL: Barco de la legion, ship of the legion.

  Bellona: Moon of Terra Nova.

  Bolshiberry: A fruit-bearing vine, believed to have been genengineered by the Noahs. The fruit is intensely poisonous to intelligent life.

  Caltrop: A four-pointed jack with sharp, barbed ends. Thirty-eight per meter of front give defensive capability roughly equivalent to triple standard concertina.

  Caltrop Projector: A drum filled with caltrops, a linear shaped charge, and low explosive booster, to scatter caltrops over a wide area on command.

  Cazador: Spanish: Hunter. Similar to Chasseur, Jaeger and Ranger. Light Infantry, especially selected and trained. Also a combat leader selection course within the Legion del Cid.

  Chorley: A grain of Terra Nova, apparently not native to Old Earth.

  Classis: Latin: Fleet or Naval Squadron.

  Cohort: Battalion, though in the legion these are large battalions.

  Conex: Metal shipping container, generally 8' × 8 × 20' or 40'.

  Consensus: When capitalized, the governing council of Old Earth, formerly the United Nations Security Council.

  Corona Civilis: Latin: Civic Crown. One of approximately thirty-seven awards available in the legion for specific and noteworthy events. The Civic Crown is given for saving the life of a soldier on the battlefield at risk of one’s own.

  Cricket: A very short take-off and landing aircraft used by the legion, for some purposes, in place of more expensive helicopters.

  Diana: A small magnet or flat metal plate intended to hide partially metal anti-personnel landmines by making everything give back the signature of a metal anti-personnel landmine.

  Dustoff: Medical evacuation, typically by air.

  Eris: Moon of Terra Nova.

  Escopeta: Spanish: Shotgun.

  Estado Mayor: Spanish:General Staff and, by extension, the building which houses it.

  F-26: The legion’s standard assault rifle, in 6.5mm.

  FMB: Five-Minute Bomb.

  FMB-I: Five-Minute Bomb-Incendiary.

  FMTIB: Five-Minute Thermobaric and Incendiary Bomb.

  FSD: Federated States Drachma. Unit of money equivalent in value to 4.2 grams of silver.

  GPR: Ground Penetrating Radar.

  Hecate: Moon of Terra Nova.

  Hieros: Shrine or temple.

  Huánuco: A plant of Terra Nova from which an alkaloid substance is refined.

  I: Roman number one. Chief Operations Officer, his office, and his staff section.

  Ia: Operations officer dealing mostly with fire and maneuver, his office and his section, S- or G-3.

  Ib: Logistics officer, his office and his section, S- or G-4.

  Ic: Intelligence officer, his office and his section, S- or G-2.

  II: Adjutant, Personnel officer, his office and his section, S- or G-1.

  IM-71: A medium lift cargo and troop carrying helicopter.

  Ikhwan: Arabic: Brotherhood.

  Jaguar: Volgan built tank in legionary service.

  Jaguar II: Improved Jaguar.

  Jizyah: Special tax levied against non-Moslems living in Moslem lands.

  Karez: Underground aqueduct system.

  Keffiyah: Folded cloth Arab headdress.

  Klick: Kilometer. Note: Democracy ends where the metric system begins.

  Kosmo: Cosmopolitan Progressive. Similar to Tranzi on Old Earth.

  Liwa: Arabic: Major General.

  Lorica: Lightweight silk and liquid metal torso armor used by the legion.

  LOTS: Logistics Over The Shore, which is to say without port facilities.

  LZ: Landing Zone, a place where helicopters drop off troops and equipment.

  Maniple: Company.

  Makkah al Jedidah: Arabic: New Mecca.

  Mañana sera major: Spanish: Balboan politico-military song “Tomorrow will be better.”

  MB: Money Bomb.

  MRL: Multiple Rocket Launcher.

  Mujahadin: Arabic: Holy Warriors (singular: mujahad).