The Communist stood on the road, waiting patiently for me. I was surprised to discover that I recognised him; Councillor – ex-Councillor - Daniel Singh. His family history had been more complex than most of the other prominent Councillors; he’d been the child of a mixed marriage that had fallen apart, a year after he’d been born. He’d drifted into Communism because racism was anthemia to the Communists – in the same sense that it was anthemia to the UN, but also useful for divide and conquer – and ended up their first Councillor. He’d also lost his seat to the Progressive Party and had taken it badly. Up close, he was a light brown man, with eyes that were cold and hard. He looked like someone who was prepared to fight and die.
“Captain-General,” he said, when I stood close enough for a friendly conversation. “You are surrounding territory belonging to the People’s Republic of Pitea, an extremely unfriendly act.”
I had to admire his chutzpah, if nothing else. “Blow it out your ass,” I said, rudely. “You took the city from the elected government and are currently holding it down by force. Dare I hope that you’ve come to negotiate a surrender?”
“When we spoke before, you were the leader of a group of mercenary army trainers,” Singh said, as if my words hadn’t affected him at all. “Now you’re the General of the entire planet. How your positions have grown.”
“They have,” I agreed, tightly. He was trying to get under my skin and succeeding. “You’re not a military man, Singh, but even you must agree that your position is hopeless. We’ll take the city back even if…”
“You have to destroy it to save it?” Singh asked, amused. “You certainly didn’t leave much of the Industrial Complex standing in New Copenhagen, did you?”
“I didn’t turn it into an armed fortress and kill half the planet’s government,” I said, angrily. “If you’re going to try and convince me that you’re only acting this way because we made you act this way…save it. The age-old cry of the terrorist; look what you made us do! You’re not going to get out of this alive if we have to retake the city by force.”
“We’re not going to get out of this alive anyway,” Singh pointed out. “Darling Frida will want to kill us all, just to ensure that her own connections with us are buried beneath our dead bodies. Would it surprise you to know that she was once a Communist in good standing?” I shrugged. “Or do you care, seeing that you are just a mercenary with no sense of what you’re fighting for?”
“Not really, no,” I said, ignoring his insults. Removing him and the rest of his gang suited both sets of orders. “Are you going to offer me a bribe?”
He smiled. “Bring your force over to our side and I’ll pay you twice what Frida and her government are paying you.”
I laughed, loudly enough for him to know that he was being mocked. “If I accepted that bargain, and I don’t believe that you could or would keep it, no one would ever hire us again,” I said. “There’s a whole string of mercenary companies out there and all of them would gleefully point out that the Legion of the Dispossessed had turned on their backers when a better offer came along. Fleet would probably forbid us from moving around if they viewed us as bearers of chaos…what can you offer us to make it worthwhile?”
He looked as if I’d struck him. “You could come work with us…”
My laugh grew louder. “Communism has never worked,” I said. I’d studied history enough to know that to be true. “The best you could create is a prison camp for your planet; the worst would be another civil war. Even if you became the government of the planet, you couldn’t make communism work – it simply doesn’t work.”
“There are communist planets out there,” he protested. “They work.”
“They were all created by committed believers,” I pointed out, in response. “And even they didn’t remain stable when their children learned about different worlds, did they? Some will probably go capitalist soon enough; others, the worst ones, will probably have a civil war. You have to force communism on people who don’t want it. You’ll be lucky if you last a year.”
His gaze darkened. “We have some of your people prisoner,” he snapped, forgetting his manners. “If you attack us, they will be killed.”
I felt a knife stabbing into my heart, but pushed it down angrily. “Anyone who joins the Legion knows the score,” I said. “If they die on active service, they die on active service…and we will hunt their killers to the ends of the universe.”
I watched as he stumbled away. If they weren’t going to give up…
We’d have to attack.
Chapter Sixteen
MOUT – Military Operations in Urban Terrain – is among the most dangerous forms of combat. The advantages of modern trained troops are cut down to nothing. It is therefore recommended that all ROE be adjusted to ensure the safety of the troops as the first priority.
-Army Manual, Heinlein
Three days later, we began a careful advance into the city.
I’d planned, after some consultation with Jock – who had finally bothered to report in – and Ed, for an attempt to win over most of the city’s population. Jock had confirmed my suspicions that most of the city’s population was caught in the middle of the fighting, without actually being Communists or even Communist Supporters. I wasn't too surprised by that – the Communists had lost their seat, after all – but if they were caught up in the fighting, they might turn on my people. The Communists, it seemed, had disarmed the Police and most of the other militia groups, leaving them as the dominant presence in the city. I couldn’t see how they intended to convert their control of the city into control of the planet, unless they thought their resistance would spark off other insurrections in the other cities. I doubted it would work. Everywhere else, the Police had rounded up known Communists and thrown them in the detention camps.
The Communists clearly had SAM missiles, which they’d proved by firing at and missing a helicopter that flew too close to the city, but they hadn’t realised just how advanced the UAVs we had were. We might not have been able to count on the William Tell to continue to supply us with orbital reconnaissance – the broadcasts from the encircled city contained more than a few mocking references to Fleet’s apparent reluctance to intervene – but the UAVs would fill in the holes. The big ones could hover high over the city for hours, completely beyond detection, while the smaller ones fluttered down between the buildings. They looked so much like birds that they would almost pass unnoticed, at least until someone shot one down in hopes of an addition to their rations. The Communists had clearly stockpiled food and drink – hell, they had the entire seacoast to draw on for water – but they were already looking a bit sparse. I’d have held off for longer, but the political pressure had become irresistible. We needed to destroy the Communist faction before further trouble erupted. It probably wouldn’t be long in coming.
I looked over at the take from the bird-shaped UAVs and smiled. The Communists didn’t know it, but between them and the Specials we knew where most of their strongpoints were. This would be very different from battering our way into the Industrial Complex, when we were almost blind; this time, we’d know where we were going, and just where to hit to split up the enemy forces. They might have turned the city into a strongpoint, but we could break it up, at a cost. The thought made me wince. We had half of the Legion and four thousand soldiers from the local army…and we were about to assault a city with over six million people. It was going to be nasty.
“Ed?” I asked, finally. “Is everything ready?”
“It’s as ready as it’s ever going to get,” Ed said. We’d strengthened the ring of steel around the city as more units were shuttled down from the spaceport or New Copenhagen. Hundreds of people were still trying to flee and we’d picked most of them up, taking the time to debrief them properly. The Communists were still purging the city of everyone they hated; having killed the Police and the Industrialists, they’d moved on to the landlords and the loan sharks, even the drug dealers. The tidal wave of
human movement had netted us quite a few people the Police would want to have a few words with, afterwards. “We could do with more men, but…”
“We could always do with more men,” I said, peering over in the direction of the city. There were small plumes of smoke rising up in the distance, caused by cooking fires, but otherwise it seemed peaceful. That wouldn’t last very long. “Are all of the units ready?”
Ed saluted sharply. “The Legion is fully at your command, Captain-General,” he said, formally. It was an old phasing, dating back from well before the UNPF and the Colonies War. “We are good to go.”
I took one last look at the display and keyed my earpiece. “Missile teams, this is Lead One,” I said. “You are cleared to open fire. I repeat; you are cleared to open fire.”
The missile trucks had come from the UN deports on the planet, where they’d been abandoned along with enough ammunition to fight a civil war, and it hadn’t taken long to get them back into working order. They weren't used that often when there were starships in orbit, beyond any danger of being shot down or captured, but I had a use in mind for them now. I heard the noise as they fired the first spread of light cruise missiles into the city, targeted on the Communist command posts. If we were lucky, we’d kill the leadership and decapitate them in the opening round. I smiled as the streaks of light raced over the horizon and flew towards the city, watching carefully for any signs of laser point defence fire. The Communists could have obtained a ground-based point defence station from one of the UN deports, but instead the missiles came crashing down on their targets, exploding in massive fireballs that I could see even at a distance. There would be no way that they’d be hiding that from their captive population!
“Nine missiles scored direct hits,” Ed said, looking at the telemetry and the signals from the UAVs. “One crashed down in the suburbs and started a fire; I doubt that that’s going to make us very popular. And one of them caught a UAV in the fireball. It should have been vaporised, but the destruct system should have completed the job, just in case.”
I nodded. If the Communists captured a UAV, they’d know how they were being watched and start shooting all of the birds out of the sky. “Fire the second set of missiles,” I ordered, keying my earpiece. “Add Target Nine to the second firing list and fire at will.”
A second wave of cruise missiles crashed down on the city. The first wave of missiles had been targeted on known command posts. The second wave had been targeted on known strongpoints. We were taking the risk of heavy civilian casualties, but I wasn't going to risk my men on cracking a heavily-defended city when massive applications of firepower would do the job. The feedback showed that, again, most of the missiles had scored direct hits. I’d hated facing cruise missiles myself, even with point defence systems, and the Communists had to be becoming demoralised. They might even be considering surrender.
“Launch the third set,” I ordered, again. This time, the missiles were targeted on their guard posts at the edge of the city. It was almost certain that some civilians would be caught in those blasts, if not the others, but it might just allow the survivors a chance to escape and run right into our arms. We’d take them all and interrogate them, learning everything they knew about the Communist position. It was amazing how much could be learned just by asking the right questions. Intelligence is the second most dangerous weapon in war. “Results?”
“I think we stunned them,” Ed said. “We shattered the guard posts and scouts report that there’s shooting from within the city. Their broadcasts seem to have cut off in the midst of blathering about the Communist Republic and how everything is going to be wine and roses forever.”
“Oh, what a shame,” I said, lifting my binoculars to my eyes and watching the massive black plumes of smoke as they rose into the air. The cruise missiles would not only have slaughtered most of the Communist leadership – and they might have killed the hostages as well – but they’d set parts of the city on fire. The Communists would have problems trying to organise resistance with the city burning down around their ears. “Transmit our message now.”
We’d recorded a message from Frida, not for the Communists, but for the innocent civilians caught in the midst of the fighting. It told them what was happening, promised them that the time of liberation was at hand, and ordered them to try and make their way out of the city. She’d wanted to tell them to remain in their homes and I had to admit that the idea was attractive, but we couldn’t run the risk of having people in positions where they might be mistaking for enemy combatants. The death toll was going to be high enough anyway. God alone knew how many people the cruise missiles had killed. The other part of the message warned them to come unarmed. Armed hostiles would be shot down in the streets.
“Message being transmitted now,” Ed said. We’d hijacked the local radio frequency, but it wasn't a big loss; it had only been transmitting Communist bullshit. “Do you think anyone’s going to listen, sir?”
I shrugged. I’ve been through wars on a dozen planets and I liked to think that I was used to chaos. Combat isn’t like a disease, where a handful of doses can make you immune, but soldiers do develop a warrior mentality. The civilians wouldn’t be so used to the chaos and would probably remain cowering in their homes as long as possible. It made a pleasant change from Heinlein, in a way; there it seemed that everyone had had guns and even civilians had engaged entire UN Infantry Companies and forced them to retreat. It had been a thoroughly nasty war…and this one was shaping up to be worse.
“We can, but try, Ed,” I said, and meant it. “Order the first recon patrols to move down into the city and prepare to call in fire from the mortars.”
My earpiece roared in my ear. “God damn you, sir,” Jock’s voice bellowed. “You damn near killed me!”
“Ah…sorry?” I asked, dryly. “What’s going on in there?”
“You just kicked over a hornet’s nest and all the hornets are buzzing about looking for someone to sting,” Jock snapped, calming down slightly. “Your fucking missile nearly killed me in the blast!”
“You said,” I said, patiently. I had a million and one things to do, but I needed his report. “Did we kill the Communist leadership?”
“It doesn’t look like it,” Jock said, after a moment. “There’s still plenty of guys walking around issuing orders. It looks as if they’ve got the situation under control. I can’t find any trace of the prisoners yet – you do know you might have killed them?”
“I know,” I said. “And the civilian population?”
“Plenty of panic in places, but plenty of people just hiding indoors,” Jock reported. “I’d suggest pressing closer and trying to liberate parts of the city. The more chaos the better. Chaos is my friend.”
He cut the connection and I rubbed my ear before looking down at the display. The advance units had just reached the edge of the slums, mile upon miles of filthy squalid dwellings that had been used to house the new immigrants, and recoiled as the Communists opened fire on them. The newcomers had rapidly fallen to the bottom of the social pyramid and hated it, seeing themselves as the victims of discrimination. They might well have been right. The locals saw no reason to welcome the strangers the UN had fostered on them, seeing them as the UN’s attempt to weaken the planet and make it easier to rule. No wonder the Communists had done so well in recruiting them. They’d been the only game in town.
“They’re trying to hold us back,” Robert reported, as B Company fell back in good order. A hail of mortar shells rose from the slums and came crashing down in the general direction of my people; we answered with a wave of fire from our own mortars and a handful of long-range guns. It was a mystery why the UN had even brought them to the planet – they preferred to use KEWs to surprise ground-based defences and resistance – but they were worth their weight in gold and platinum. “It’s going to be hard to break through without the armoured vehicles.”
I swallowed a curse as the first IED exploded far too close to Robert’s po
sition for comfort. “Tankers, this is HQ,” I ordered. “You are cleared to advance to your first positions. Do you copy?”
“Copy,” the lead tanker said. “We’re on our way now.”
I tilted the binoculars and saw the first tanks lumbering down towards the slums. The enemy noticed them as well and the tanks seemed to glitter as thousands of bullets slammed into the tanks, only to ricochet harmlessly away from the hull. The tanks couldn’t be hurt that easily, although the slums would provide plenty of places to hide IEDs or antitank weapons. Not for the first time, I cursed the weak planetary government; I believed in owning weapons, but there were limits. What else did the Communists have up their sleeves?
Picking Up The Pieces (Martial Law) Page 16