by David Weber
Granger bared her teeth at her tactical console. She’d read Merrit’s record. The man was tough, smart, gutsy, and as good as they came, but it didn’t matter how good he was. He knew who Sanders was, so he wouldn’t be suspicious of the colonel, and he had absolutely no reason to suspect that the other “Brigade members” with his superior were professional killers. If he proved difficult, it would be a very brief difficulty.
“Assault orbit in ninety-six minutes, ma’am,” her ops officer murmured, and she nodded.
“Double-check the fire solution on the com sats. All three of those birds have to go down the instant we enter orbit.”
“I’m on it,” the ops officer grunted laconically, and Louise Granger sat back in her command chair with an evil smile.
16
I advance through the jungle, sweeping on an east-west arc at 30.25 kph. As ordered, I have disabled my independent link to the planetary surveillance satellites and all com channels save for that to the emergency contact unit in the maintenance depot. I am operating blind, yet I am confident that I can fulfill my mission, and the challenge is both pleasing of itself and an anodyne to my anxieties over my relationship to my Commander.
It is odd, I reflect while my Battle Center maintains a 360-degree tactical range broad-spectrum passive search, but this is the closest I have ever approached to actual combat. I am a warrior, product of eight centuries of evolution in war machine design, and I have existed for eighty-two years, four months, sixteen days, eight hours, twelve minutes, and five seconds, yet I have never seen war. I have never tested myself against the proud record and tradition of the Dinochrome Brigade. Even today’s exercises will be but games, and I sense a dichotomy within my emotions. Through my Commander and the words of poets such as Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, I have come to appreciate the horrors of war more clearly, perhaps, even than those of my brothers who have actually seen it. I recognize its destructiveness, and the evils which must always accompany even the most just of wars. Yet I am also a Bolo, a unit of the Line. Ultimately, war is my function, the reason for my existence, and deep within me there lives an edge of regret, a longing not for the opportunity to destroy the Enemy but for the opportunity to test myself against him and prove myself worthy.
My sensors detect a faint emissions source at 075 degrees. I am operating in passive mode, with no active sensor emissions to betray my presence in reply, and the source is extremely faint, but 0.00256 seconds of signal enhancement and analysis confirm that it is the short-range air-search radar of a Wolverine heavy tank.
I ponder the implications for 1.0362 seconds. Colonel Gonzalez is a clever tactician. Logically, she, even more than I, should be operating under emissions control doctrine, for she knows her objective and needs only to slip past me undetected to attain it. It is possible that she fears I have deployed reconnaissance drones and seeks to detect and destroy them before they can report her actual deployment, but I compute a probability of 89.7003 percent that this is a deception attempt. She wishes me to detect the emissions. She has divided her force and hopes to draw me out of position against the decoy while her true striking force eludes detection.
I alter course to 172 degrees true and engage my tactical modeling program. I now have a bearing to the unit she wishes me to detect, which indicates the direction in which I should not move, and I begin construction of alternative models of her probable deployment from that base datum. In 2.75 minutes, I will, in fact, deploy my first reconnaissance drone, but first I must generate the search pattern it will pursue.
Paul Merrit grimaced as the depot sensors detected an approaching bogey, then grinned as its emissions signature registered. Esteban had done exactly as promised and delayed Sanders’ arrival for over an hour, and from that signature, he hadn’t exactly given the colonel a luxury sedan, either. The power readings were just about right for one of the old man’s air lorry melon haulers, with a maximum speed of barely five hundred kph, less than twelve percent of what Merrit’s own recon skimmer could manage.
He watched the blip’s approach, and his grin faded. Clunky transport or not, that was-at best-the Sword of Damocles out there. And however politely obstructionist he intended to be once Sanders arrived, there were appearances to preserve in the meantime.
He shrugged and keyed the com.
“Unknown aircraft, unknown aircraft. You are approaching restricted Navy airspace. Identify.”
He waited a moment, and an eyebrow quirked when he received no response. He gave them another twenty seconds, then keyed the com again.
“Unknown aircraft, you have now entered restricted airspace. Be advised this is a high-security area and that I am authorized to employ deadly force against intruders. Identify at once.”
“Bolo depot,” a voice came back at last, “this is Colonel Clifton Sanders, Dinochrome Brigade, on official business.”
“Colonel Sanders?” Merrit was rather pleased by the genuineness of the surprise he managed to put into his voice.
“That’s correct, Captain Merrit. I’m afraid this… vehicle has no visual capabilities or proper transponder, but I trust you recognize my voice?”
“Of course, sir.”
“Good. My present ETA is six minutes.”
“Very good, sir. I’ll be waiting.”
* * *
“Damn that old fart!” the man introduced to Esteban as Major Atwell hissed from the passenger compartment in the rear of the lorry’s cab. “We’re way behind schedule!”
“I don’t understand what your problem is,” Sanders said petulantly over his shoulder. “You heard Merrit. He doesn’t suspect a thing. Everything’s going to plan as far as I can see.”
Atwell’s lips curled in a silent snarl at the colonel’s back, but he bit off his savage retort. Sanders had been antsy enough from the moment he figured out they were going to have to kill Merrit. He’d piss himself if he even suspected the real reason for this entire operation-especially if it occurred to him that he was about to become a liability to GalCorp, as well. He had no idea his severance pay was riding in the holster on Atwell’s hip, but, by the same token, he didn’t know Matucek was scheduled to hit the planet in less than thirty minutes, either.
“Let’s just get in and get this over with,” the bogus major said finally. “The faster we get off-planet, the less exposure we’ve got.”
“All right. All right!” Sanders shrugged irritably. “I don’t know why you’re so worried. I’m the only one that old dodderer can identify by name!”
“Don’t worry, Colonel,” Atwell soothed. “We’ll take care of Esteban on the way out. No one will ever know you’ve been here, I promise.”
Clifton Sanders shivered at how easily his “associate” pronounced yet another death sentence, but he said nothing. There was nothing he could say now. All he could do was obey his orders and pray that somehow GalCorp could protect him from the consequences of carrying out its instructions.
Lorenco Esteban eased himself into one of the veranda chairs and grimaced. The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became that something unpleasant was in the wind for Paul, and he wished there’d been more he could do for his friend. But Paul was right. If the idiots back at Central had decided to come down on him, getting involved in it wouldn’t do Lorenco any good, either.
He tipped his chair back with a sigh. Good luck, boy, he thought. You’re a better man than that fool colonel any day.
“I’ve got a drone, ma’am!” The sensor tech in Consuela Gonzalez’ command tank bent closer to her panel. “Coming up at zero-three-zero relative, altitude three thousand, heading two-niner-seven true. Speed three hundred kph. Range… three-six point five klicks and closing!”
“Damn!” Gonzalez shook her head. So much for misdirection! From the drone’s point of origin, the Bolo must be well out on her left flank, but its recon drone was sweeping almost directly perpendicular to her line of advance, as if the machine knew exactly where to look.
“Kil
l it!” she barked.
“Firing,” the Wolverine’s air defense tech replied, and a laser turret swiveled. A beam of coherent light sizzled through the humid air, and the drone blew up instantly.
“There goes seven or eight hundred credits of taxpayer’s money!” the tech chortled.
“Well, it’s seven or eight hundred credits your great-great-grandma paid, not us,” Gonzalez said with a grin. Damn, that felt good! She and Merrit had agreed to a hard-limit of five kilometers; any drones or recon remotes beyond that range from her tanks or the Bolo could be engaged with live fire, and she hadn’t counted on how much fun that would be.
My drone has been destroyed, but I have plotted the coordinates of two Aggressor forces in addition to the decoy emissions source. I consider a simulated missile launch against them, but the Wolverine’s computer-commanded point defense systems are efficient. Nuclear warheads have not been specified for this scenario, and the PK with conventional warheads against a force of three Wolverines is only 28.653 percent. It will be necessary to engage with direct-fire weapons.
A source count indicates the presence of ten of Colonel Gonzalez’ fourteen tanks in the known detachments. This leaves four unaccounted for, but the locations of the known forces allow me to refine my hypothetical models of her deployment. A further 0.00017 seconds of analysis indicate that the unlocated units are her extreme right flank force and reduce their possible coordinates to three locations. I call up my terrain maps and plot those loci and continuous updates of their maximum possible advance while I consider the launch of a second drone to confirm my deduction. I reject the option after 0.00311 seconds of consideration. I will reach Hill 0709-A in 9.3221 minutes, plus or minus 56.274 seconds. From its summit, I will have direct observation-and fire capability-to each of the three possible locations. I will advance and destroy this force, then sweep back to the southwest at an angle which will permit me to encounter and destroy each of the known forces in succession. In the meantime, the absence of a second drone launch may leave Colonel Gonzalez off balance, uncertain of the tactical data actually in my possession.
The air lorry landed, and Merrit came to attention on the landing apron. Two of Colonel Sanders’ companions accompanied the colonel to the bunker entrance, and Merrit felt a slight spasm of surprise at the sloppiness with which they returned his salute. All of them wore MLP shoulder flashes, which should indicate they spent most of their time back at Central, and somebody who kept stumbling over senior officers should get lots of practice at saluting.
He shook the thought aside as Sanders held out his hand.
“Welcome to Santa Cruz, Colonel.”
“Thank you, Captain.” Sanders’ handshake was damp and clammy, and Merrit resisted a temptation to scrub his palm on his trouser leg when the colonel released it. “I assume you know why I’m here,” Sanders went on briskly, and Merrit shook his head.
“No, sir, I’m afraid not. No one told me you were coming.”
“What?” Sanders cocked his eyebrows, but the surprise in his voice struck a false note, somehow. He shook his head. “Central was supposed to have informed you last week, Captain.”
“Informed me of what, sir?” Merrit asked politely.
“Of the policy change concerning Santa Cruz. We’ve been conducting a sector-wide cost analysis since your arrival here, Captain Merrit. Naturally, we were startled to discover the nature and extent of the Santa Cruz installations-we had no idea we’d misplaced a Bolo for eighty years, heh, heh!-but given their age and the sector’s general readiness states, it’s hard to see any point in maintaining them on active status. Frontier sectors always face tighter fiscal constraints than the core sectors, you know, so it’s been decided-purely as a cost-cutting measure, you understand-to deactivate your Bolo and reassign you.”
“A cost-cutting measure, sir?” Merrit asked. He was careful to keep his tone casual and just a bit confused, but alarm bells began to sound in the back of his brain. He’d expected Sanders to come in breathing fire and smoke over his blatant disregard for regulations, yet his initial relief at the lack of fireworks was fading fast. Sanders was babbling. He was also sweating harder than even Santa Cruz’s climate called for, and Paul Merrit had seen too much combat in his forty-one years not to have developed a survivor’s instincts. Now those instincts shouted that something was very, very wrong.
“Yes, a cost-cutting measure,” Sanders replied. “You know how expensive a Bolo is, Captain. Each of them we maintain on active duty takes its own bite out of our total maintenance funding posture, and without a threat to the planet to justify the expense, well-”
He shrugged, and Merrit nodded slowly, expression calm despite a sinking sensation as he noticed that both of Sanders’ companions were armed. Of course, the jungle had all sorts of nasty fauna, and all Santa Cruzans went armed whenever they ventured into the bush on foot, but they tended to pack weapons heavy enough to knock even lizard cats on their posteriors. These men wore standard military-issue three-millimeter needlers, efficient enough man-killers but not much use against a lizard cat or one of the pseudo-rhinos.
He let his eyes wander back over the parked air lorry, and the fact that they’d left a man behind carried its own ominous overtones. Merrit couldn’t see clearly through the lorry cab’s dirty windows, but from the way he sat hunched slightly to one side, the man in it might be aiming a weapon in the bunker’s direction. If he was, then anything precipitous on Merrit’s part was likely to have very unpleasant-and immediate-consequences.
“I’m a little confused, sir,” he said slowly.
“Confused?” the major at Sanders’ elbow sounded much brusquer than the colonel, and he glanced at his wrist chrono as he spoke. “What’s there to be confused about?”
“Well, it’s just that in eighty years, there’s never been any expense, other than the initial placement costs, of course, for this Bolo. Santa Cruz has never requested as much as a track bearing from Bolo Central Maintenance, so it’s a little hard to see how shutting down is going to save any money, Major.”
“Uh, yes. Of course.” Sanders cleared his throat, then shrugged and smiled. “It’s not just, uh, current budget or expenditures we’re thinking about, Captain. That’s why I’m here in person. Despite its age, this is an extensive installation. Reclamation could be something of a bonanza for the sector, so we’re naturally planning to salvage all we can after shutdown.”
“I see.” Merrit nodded, and his mind raced.
Whatever was happening stank to high heaven, and he didn’t like the way this Major Atwell’s hand hovered near his needler. If his suspicions had any basis in fact, the colonel’s companions had to be professionals-certainly the way they’d left a man behind in the air lorry argued that they were. The precaution might seem paranoid, but they’d had no way to be certain Merrit wouldn’t be armed himself when they arrived. He had no idea exactly what the man they’d left behind had, but it was probably something fairly drastic, because his function had to be distant fire support.
Despite the frozen lead ball in Merrit’s belly, he had to acknowledge the foresight which provided against even the unlikeliest threat from him. But if they wanted to leave that fellow back there, then the thing to do was get the other three into the bunker. The chances of one unarmed man against two-three, if Sanders had a concealed weapon of his own-barely existed, but they were even lower against four of them.
“I’m not convinced Central isn’t making a mistake, sir,” he heard himself say easily, “but I’m only a captain. I assume you’d like to at least look the depot over-make a preliminary inspection and check the logs?”
“Certainly.” Sanders sounded far more relieved than he should have, and Merrit nodded.
“If you’ll follow me, then?” he invited, and led the way into the bunker.
I have reached Hill 0709-A. I approach from the southeast, keeping its crest between myself and the possible positions I have computed for Colonel Gonzalez’ fourth detachment. Soil co
nditions are poor after the last week’s heavy rains, but I have allowed for the soft going in my earlier calculations of transit time to this position, and I direct additional power to my drive systems as I ascend the rear face of the hill.
I slow as I reach the top, extending only my forward sensor array above the summit. I search patiently for 2.006 seconds before I detect the power plant emissions I seek. A burst of power to my tracks sends me up onto the hilltop, broadside to the emissions signatures. My fire control radar goes active, confirming their locations, and the laser-tag simulator units built into my Hellbores pulse. The receptors aboard the Wolverines detect the pulses, and all four vehicles slow to a halt in recognition of their simulated destruction. Three point zero-zero-six-two seconds after reaching the hill’s crest, I am in motion to the southwest at 50.3 kph to intercept the next Aggressor unit.
“So much for Suarez’ company,” Gonzalez sighed as her com receipted the raucous tone that simulated the blast of radiation from ruptured power plants.
“Yeah. It’ll be coming after us next,” her gunner grunted.
“Join the Army and see the stars!” someone else sang out, and the entire crew laughed.
“… and this is the command center,” Merrit said, ushering Sanders, Atwell, and Deng through the hatch. “As you can see, it’s very well equipped for an installation of its age.”
“Yes. Yes, it is.” Sanders mopped his forehead with a handkerchief despite the air conditioning and glanced over his shoulder at Atwell. The major was looking at his chrono again, and the colonel cleared his throat. “Well, I’m sure this has been very interesting, Captain Merrit, and I look forward to a more complete tour of the facility-including the Bolo-but I really think we should go ahead and shut it down now.”