The Genie and the Engineer 3: Ravages of War

by Glenn Michaels

  Roberta 300 floated up to Daneel 1 and Paul, extruding an arm and saluting smartly. A display map magically appeared in front of them, showing an overhead view of the complex interchange of the MKAD and M2 highways.

  “Sir, a Russian battalion, we think the 3rd Battalion, 81st Motor Rifle Regiment, 27th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade is positioned here, north of the MKAD highway on the east side of M2, probably to block the entry into Moscow. They have a tank company; we think the Russian 3rd Tank Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Guards Tank Regiment in support of their position here, just northeast of the interchange. Also, there are two Ka-50 helicopters patrolling the area. But, worst of all, we have detected the use of magic from that general area.”

  Paul jerked his head back in surprise. “Magic? There? You think portals have been used there?”

  “Yes, we do,” Roberta 300 answered. “Probably by Oni but we can’t rule out the possibility of a wizard in the neighborhood. We also don’t know how many Oni or wizards there are in front of us. Maybe just a couple of them. Perhaps dozens. It’s just not possible for us to know.”

  Paul rubbed his jaw, deep in thought. “That rules out stealth,” he said. “Any use of an invisibility spell to sneak up on the Russians would be spotted instantly.”

  Daneel 1 sighed. “True,” he agreed.

  Roberta 300 continued. “We propose that our 2nd Brigade will cross the MKAD here three miles west of the M2 interchange and traverse through this wooded section to the north, swinging east and then back again to the south. Hopefully they can catch the Russians from the rear. The 1st Brigade together with the 3rd will move in from the front. The 4th Brigade will act as reserve.” Roberta 300 turned back to face them. “Frankly, I wish we could ambush them like 2nd Division did the Russian 4th Guard Tank Brigade, but these guys are already too well emplaced.”

  “We just need to get close enough to put them to sleep,” Daneel 1 pointed out.

  “Perhaps,” Paul said, his thoughts whirling. “But let’s be a little sneaky in case there is a wizard there and he can interfere with our sleep spell. Let’s try something a little different.”

  NINETEEN

  Moscow, Russia

  Butovskiy Lesopark

  Southwest of the MKAD and M3 interchange

  Thursday, 10:43 a.m. MSK

  June

  On a large display, Paul and the command staff of 1st Division watched as five Scotties dropped out of the sky on a semi-truck as it barreled up the MKAD highway. As the floating cubes bracketed the truck, it slowed and pulled over to the shoulder, its emergency lights flashing. Another similar truck was already parked on the shoulder a hundred yards further up the highway.

  “It looks like Annabelle 357,” (Star Trek episode “I, Mudd”) “found another empty semi-truck,” Roberta 300 concluded. “That gives us two of them on the east bound lane, three miles west of the interchange. And Gort 737 reports that they have two empties on the north bound lane, south of the interchange, on the M2. The drivers are temporarily under Scottie control in a light hypnotic trance.” She turned to him. “I think we are ready.”

  “It’s Trojan Horse time. Lock and load,” Paul replied, with a devious smile.

  Ω

  Each pair of trucks, only a hundred feet apart, swung back onto the highways and accelerated to a steady pace, heading for the interchange.

  Since the Scotties were essentially computers in their own right, it was child’s play on their part to calculate and coordinate the timely arrival of all four trucks to the target locations.

  The two east bound trucks exited the MKAD and proceeded along the south bound ramp which gently curved around to the northeast, crossing over the M2 and swinging in another sweeping curve to the northwest as the road began to merge into the north bound M2 highway. Simultaneously, the two north bound trucks on the M2 crossed over the MKAD and neared the first two trucks as the pavements merged together.

  “And…about…now!” exclaimed Roberta 300.

  Paul’s view of the scene, magnified from a microportal fifty miles above the Earth’s surface, allowed them to easily observe the four trucks as two Brigades of Scotties spewed forth, emerging through the walls of the truck trailers, darting outward at high speed, catching the Russian tank company inside the interchange loop completely by surprise. In two blinks of an eye, all fourteen tanks were immobilized, their 1V517 fire control computers fried with sudden intense bursts of focused gamma rays.

  From the north, the Scottie 2nd Brigade flew down the east side of the highway, coming up behind the Russians troops on the tree studded fields in front of several high rise apartment buildings.

  These Russian troops were not caught off-guard, but began firing almost immediately, first with machine gun fire and then with 30 mm anti-aircraft fire from a 2K22 Tunguska self-propelled tracked vehicle. In addition, plasma blasts could be seen, apparently from Oni hiding among the Russians.

  The Scotties danced and weaved while projecting portals to catch the shells and bullets fired at them. Paul felt a sudden shock as a Scottie spun wildly through the air, grazed by a 30 mm round, the cube shape heading for an impact with the ground. Two other Scotties suddenly appeared by its side, snagging the damaged unit and whisking it through a portal and out of further harm’s way. Several grenades, fired from RPG-32 launchers, shot through the air, most of them vanishing through small portals, but a couple detonated against the Scotties’ personal force shields.

  Around the interchange, cars and trucks frantically swerved off the pavement past the shoulders of the road and into ditches, culverts, and onto the grass. Some of the drivers and passengers madly bailed out of their vehicles to lay prone on the ground. A few others simply pulled to a stop to stare at the battle, mesmerized by the fireworks and oblivious to their own safety. A couple of them, in a hurry and blocked by the lookie-lous, laid on their horns, anxious to be on their way.

  Attacked from two directions, the outnumbered Russian soldiers fought back valiantly, but the Scotties held the upper hand. The Tunguska’s two 2A38 canons abruptly exploded, the barrels capped by a sudden magic spell, trapping the shells and expanding gas inside until the walls of the barrels ruptured violently under the pressure. Machine gun fire dwindled as three Scotties used a portal to snatch up a PKM machine gun together with its Russian soldier. Then two Kord 12.7mm machine guns exploded as Scotties used magic to first melt and then bend the barrels (and while the Kords were still firing!).

  In group lots, the Russian troops quickly disappeared as portals appeared over their heads, dropping swiftly down over their positions. Fire from the AK-12 assault rifles died off quickly as the infantry was removed from the battlefield, in some cases leaving their weapons behind, the barrels still hot enough to smolder the dry grass under them.

  Six forms rose into the air, struggling against unseen restraints. Isolated and captured by the Scottie’s magical spells, the six Oni tried to fight back, but were steadfastly ensnared. They too disappeared through portals one by one.

  The firing quickly died off. The show now over, the vehicles on both the M2 and MKAD slowly began moving again. Those vehicles that had left the pavement slowly worked themselves back into the traffic flow.

  The T-80 tanks, BMP-3s, and two GAZ-2975 Tigrs, deserted now, looked totally out of place in a residential setting. AK-12s and MP-443 Grach pistols lay discarded around the site. A handful of Scotties, now cloaked in invisibility fields, gathered up the weapons and shoved them through portals.

  “Do you have a report yet?” Paul asked the Corps commander.

  “Collecting information now,” replied Roberta 300. “Nimue 45,” (from the David Weber Safehold series) “was injured in the fight and has been taken to Mount Logan, Canada for repair. She is in serious condition. The six Oni have already been sent to the Azkaban Prison, per your standing orders. All the Russians have been rendered unconscious, and are being returned to their barracks at Vidnoye. As best we can tell, no innocent bystanders were injured, thanks to s
ome fast action by our Scotties with portals and deflection spells. Most of the bullets and shells fired were portaled to a wooded section several miles south of here.”

  Paul nodded and turned to Daneel 1 with a frown. “When we leave here, I would like to visit Nimue 45 in Mount Logan.” He turned back to Roberta 300 and made himself smile. “Excellent job, Commander. Please pass along my congratulations to everyone. Next, I would like you to please clear the other MKAD interchanges south of Moscow of all Russian Army units. Please keep us informed on your results. We will be asking 3rd and 4th Brigades of 2nd Division to intercept the 16th Spetsnaz Brigade. I plan to go with the 1st and 2nd Brigades of 2nd Division for their next operation. I am going to ask them to secure the entire western and northern approaches to the city. I want your Division to take on the Russian 9th Guard Motor Rifle Brigade advancing from the east on the M7 highway. After that, I want you to also take out the 6th Guard Tank Brigade on the M7 highway as well.”

  Roberta 300 said, with a chuckle, “Thanks, Dad. Don’t worry. We’ll clear those rascally Russians out of the way.”

  Ω

  Their operations against the Russian troops outside of Moscow required two additional days of combat to complete. The 2nd Division, 3rd and 4th Brigades successfully attacked and disposed of the 5th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade at the M3 and M9 interchanges along the MKAD highway and secured the southwestern sections of Moscow. Then they turned and moved southward along the M6 highway to deal with the 16th Spetsnaz Brigade (they buried themselves in the furrows of freshly plowed fields alongside the road and then popped out of the ground to spring their surprise trap against the Russians).

  After the success of 1st Division at the Battle of M2 Highway, Roberta 300 led her 1st and 2nd Brigades to victory against the 9th Guard Motor Rifle Brigade in a forest lined stretch of the M7 highway west of Obukhovo. Then she led 3rd and 4th Brigades in a successful ambush and assault against the 6th Guard Tank Brigade just east of Vladimir, again using a thick section of woods to screen their presence.

  At the end of two days of combat, all of the outskirts of Moscow were under Scottie control.

  In all the action so far, two of his Scotties had been injured. Nimue 45 at the MKAD and M2 battle and Omega 69 (from the TV series The Flash) at the MKAD and M9 battle. Nimue was in serious but optimistic condition at the Mount Logan facility. In her case, she had sustained motherboard damages, but was expected to recover with a new board. Sadly, Omega 69 had been more seriously injured, including damage to his CPU. The latest prognosis Paul was given was not encouraging. The attempts to recover the Scottie’s personality matrix from the CPU were full of data parity errors. Omega 69 might very well end up being the first to make use of the theoretical back-up plan for recovery of a lost Scottie. That plan was simple enough. The hardware for a new Scotty would be assembled and then Omega 69’s data backup files would be downloaded to it from his portable storage unit stored at the Mount Logan Facility

  It wouldn’t be an ideal restoration of Omega 69 but it would come as close as they could make it happen. His memories since leaving Mars would be gone. Still, for all intents and purposes, it would be virtually indistinguishable from the same ‘person.’

  Still, Paul’s heart was sad. There was no denying Omega 69 was the first real casualty of the war. Paul prayed that there wouldn’t be any others but felt uncomfortable, suspecting down deep in his heart that Omega 69 might just be the first of many more to come.

  Paul glanced around the Situation Room. Several dozen Scotties floated in the air near him, waiting patiently for him to begin the meeting.

  “Fine,” he said, shrugging off his melancholy state of mind. They had, after all, won a great victory, one that any other army in history would have been proud to boast about. “Let’s have a map and discuss what we are going to do about the Russian wizards.”

  A map of downtown Moscow appeared in the middle of the large room, courtesy of a spell from Daneel 2, who added, “We tasked Questor 411,” (1974 made-for-TV-movie, The Questor Tapes) “commander of 4th Company, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 1st Division of II Corps to monitor all of downtown Moscow for magic signatures.”

  Paul signaled his understanding with a quick nod. “Looking for portal usage. Good. And?”

  Daneel 2 zoomed in on the map, focusing in on the area around Red Square. “In the last 48 hours, there has been a lot of portal activity in this area, centered mostly on the Kremlin Senate building and the Kremlin Presidium. There has been some activity too at the Kremlin Arsenal and even in the Grand Kremlin Palace. Other portals have been observed at locations we believe coincide with Kremlin Regiment positions. We have tasked Galaxina 404,” (1980 film Galaxina) “commanding 4th Company, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division of II Corps to scan all of downtown Moscow for the Kremlin Regiment troops.” The map moved again, several flashing red dots appearing, forming a circle around the center of Moscow. “I believe that they have identified elements of all four brigades of the Kremlin Guard at various choke points around the Garden Ring. That’s a string of 17 individually named streets and 15 squares that forms a 16 mile circumference around the city. It’s a natural defensive barrier since most of the Garden Ring consists of streets from six to eighteen lanes wide. It gives the Kremlin Guard good fields of fire as well as decent mobility, allowing each unit to support neighboring units around the Ring. There seems to be a second, inner ring of troops surrounding Red Square and the Kremlin buildings, which thereby provides them defense in depth.”

  Paul gestured thoughtfully at the map. “And there will likely be Oni supporting all those Kremlin Guard units as well.”

  “Which explains the portals we’ve seen around the Garden Ring,” agreed Daneel 2. “Obviously they are expecting us to make a frontal ground attack, thus explaining the classic defensive rings in depth. How shall I say this? The Russian commander is ‘intelligent but not experienced. His pattern indicates two-dimensional thinking.’”

  Paul had to chuckle at that one. “Spock said that to Kirk about Khan in Star Trek II, The Wrath of Khan. Very good. So do you also recommend Z minus 20,000 feet?”

  “In our case, I recommend Z plus 300 miles,” Daneel 2 replied. “Using orbital drop techniques pioneered in Robert Heinlein’s novel Starship Troopers and last used in the HALO video games, books and of course, the anime series.”

  It made sense. “We have enough Scotties to hit all the important locations simultaneously,” Paul pointed out. “I suggest that we put together a plan of attack, starting with the Kremlin Senate building. That’s my best guess where the Russian chief wizard, what’s his name, is hiding out.”

  “Oleg Trofim Nevsky,” Daneel 1 reminded him. “And I’m sure you are right about his location.”

  “Let’s use 1st Division, II Corps to hit the Senate,” Paul suggested. “Then we can assign…”

  Ω

  Their attack began shortly before midnight, Moscow time, on the very next day.

  Three hundred miles above the Baltic Sea, a series of large portals snapped into existence, ejecting twelve thousand Scotties, all streaming forth and accelerating eastward in a path toward western Russia. They flew forward along carefully calculated paths, each individually designed to put its Scottie on a ballistic course towards a specific location inside the Moscow city limits.

  They went feet dry over Latvia and soon afterward ceased to accelerate, letting gravity take full control. Indeed, they shut down all magical spells, initiating emission control procedures. Now they were invisible to detection by magic as well as being nearly invisible on radar.

  As they re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere, their surfaces began to heat from air friction. To prevent any one surface from heating too much, every Scottie began to tumble and rotate, evenly distributing the heat load of re-entry.

  Their entry path curved downward, the air resistance gradually slowing them. Steadily, they fell toward the downtown sectors of Moscow, the city lights becoming brighter in the distan
ce.

  Also, increasingly, they began to move apart, spreading outward in small groups, the better to hit their assigned target coordinates. The cool night air helped to lower their elevated skin temperatures as they fell closer to Earth. As their ballistic courses progressed, they eventually found themselves falling nearly vertically, the city streets and highways rushing upward to meet them.

  The 2nd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, II Corps struck first, arriving at the intersection of ulitsa Novyy Arbat and Novinskiy Bul’var. Their cubes hurdled downward through the air, the Scotties waiting until they were a mere ten feet off the ground before unleashing a spell that converted their downward momentum to a horizontal velocity. Overshooting the Russian troops of the 2nd company, 4th battalion, the Scotties sent most of the Russian soldiers through portals to a grassy field on the island of Bezdonnoye, in the middle of the Moskva River. Other Russians were simply rendered unconscious with a magic spell and allowed to drop to the pavement where they curled up, sound asleep.

  Circling back, the Scotties snared the six Oni soldiers present and thrust them screaming and kicking through a portal to Azkaban Prison. In less than thirty seconds, the intersection was cleared of all Russian combatants, leaving only their equipment and vehicles behind.

  Other Scottie companies hit other intersections of the Garden Ring, performing the self-same tasks. The almost instantaneous appearance by the Scotties precluded any serious opposition by the Russians or even the Oni stationed with them. Unit by unit, the outer ring of the Kremlin Guard was removed from the fight.

  At Red Square, a few of the units of the II Corps swept down on the Kremlin regiment at the Kremlin Arsenal, some of the Scotties plowing straight through the roof of the building and into the dormitories, taking the Russians in their beds while other Scotties dealt with the soldiers stationed outside in the streets and on the sidewalks.