“In a couple of hours at most.”
Gilbert handed Henley a packet disk. “Well, you’ll have a little more time than that. Here are your orders. The unclassified part will get you aboard the Taylor the day after tomorrow. The classified part you can read once you’re in space. This is the code sequence,” he said, handing another disk. “Good luck to you, and don’t forget to keep your head down.”
“Aye, sir,” Henley said, taking the second disk, “and my ass, too.” They both laughed.
12
“HOW WAS THE GENERAL WARFARE CENTER?”
“I didn’t get to see much of it, General,” Archer replied. “That speed-course you set up for me didn’t leave me much time to look at the facilities or soak up the traditions.
“Sorry I couldn’t give you more time, but it’s finally here,” Schopper said. “Admiral Gilbert and the Joint Chiefs have given the go-ahead for the entire planet-hopping invasion plan.”
“What about Colonel Ingrivia’s logistic plan? Did she finally get that right while I was up there?”
“Yes, and it is a good one, too. The Joint Chiefs approved it last week and started putting it into effect immediately, Schopper said, handing Archer a steaming cup. “It’s battle coffee. Hope you like it, because it’s gotten so it is the only kind of coffee I really do like anymore.”
Archer blew on the cup several times, and then took a tiny sip, careful not to burn his tongue. “Whew. Never could get used to this. Guess it’s the three hundred milligrams of caffeine per cup that jolts me. I’ll bet you’re eager to join the invasion force, aren’t you, sir?”
“Yes I am, but I have a surprise for you, Archer. I am not going to be commanding the invasion force. You are.”
“Me, sir?” Archer almost spilled his coffee, so he set it on the desk. “I’m just a junior brigadier. When you brought me here from Sutton, you led me to believe that I was going to be commanding two legions, not the whole invasion force.”
“That was my intention. However, it quickly became obvious to me that you had talents beyond legion command.
“General Mari must have spotted those same talents when he promoted you. That’s why I sent you up to General Warfare.”
“General Mari was a good man and a damned fine soldier sir, but I don’t see why-”
“That he was, Archer. That he was. And it was his reports on you that led me to bring you to Nordeen. Archer, I need a man who is adaptable, someone like yourself, used to unconventional warfare, someone who won’t be tied to the book and tradition. So, I picked you. If Mari can promote you, so can I. As of now you hold the temporary rank of Post General. That will cause some quiet screaming around here but I think it’s justified.”
Archer stared at General Schopper for a long moment before he spoke. “That’s a helluva lot you’re laying on me, sir.”
“Such is war, Archer. We all get asked to do a lot more than we want to. However, I am convinced that you are the best man to handle this assignment, and I have persuaded the Joint Chiefs that if they will not allow me to command the force myself, then they have to let me send the officer I have the most confidence in. That’s you.”
“I appreciate that, sir. I really do, but ...”Archer paused. “I guess I can assume from all this that the Joint Chiefs have decided on our first invasion target?”
General Schopper gave him a grim smile. “Archer, we have a security leak around here, a serious one, and what I’m about to tell you is known only by a select few – a very select few. Your target has been designated as Vine One. That’s Terratane, the system in the Ivy Chain closest to the galactic pole.”
Archer shook his head and gave a low whistle. “I don’t know, sir. That’s a half -inhabited planet with a million or two civilians. Sounds like too big a responsibility for a back-planet soldier like me.”
“Quit thinking about yourself, Archer, and pay attention to your duty for a change. The fleet ship Taylor is leaving here tonight on a fast run to Mungtinez. That’s where we’re going to be assembling the invasion force. I’m going to travel with you on the Taylor, and by the time you get there, you’re going to know everything I know about invasions that I haven’t already taught you. Then I’ll be heading right back here.”
Again Archer shook his head and pursed his lips but did not whistle. “You’re going to have to convince me you’re right about this, sir, ‘cause I’ve got some serious reservations.”
“Like what?”
“Like what kind of response I’m going to get from the senior officers to someone with my experience who has jumped ranks?”
“You let me worry about them,” Schopper said with a smile. “What else bothers you?”
“It’s all tied to the same thing, sir, like a sled to a beckynoid, and if it’s going–“
“A sled to a what?”
Archer smiled. “Oh, sorry, sir, an expression from home. Beckynoids are little draft animals we used to pull sleds across Sutton’s deserts. Anyway, if we’re – if I’m going to make this thing work, it seems to me that I’m going to need more experience than I have now.”
“What are you suggesting, Archer?”
“I’m not sure sir, but wouldn’t it be possible to take on a smaller target before attacking the Ivy Chain?”
Schopper frowned. “It’s too late to change targets.”
“But sir, you just said you wanted someone flexible, someone who wouldn’t be tied to–“
“Don’t throw my own words at me, Archer. I said it’s too late to change targets. Get used to that idea.”
“All right, sir, but I think it’s a mistake.”
“Dammit, Archer,” Schopper said angrily, “two-thirds of your troops and half your officers are going to be veterans of the Sutton invasion. Yet you understand the principles behind an invasion better than most of those officers who have actually participated in one. You are the best officer I have for this job, and you’re going to do it with no further complaints. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir!” Archer said with a quick salute.
“Save your sarcasm and go pick up your new stars and pack your kit. We’re leaving tonight. And Archer?”
“Sir?” Archer asked as he rose to leave.
“Try to have a little more faith in yourself.”
“Is that an order, sir?” A slight grin and a twinkle in his eyes accompanied the question.
“It is.”
“Then I’ll do my best, General,” he said, the grin turning into a teeth-baring smile.
“That’s why I picked you. See you at eighteen hundred.”
◊ ◊ ◊
As Mica read the incoming message, she felt sorrow and anger at the same time. It couldn’t be true. It just couldn’t. As soon as the message was completed, she requested a confirmation from the Phantell.
When the confirmation arrived, there was no doubt about the truth. Dimitri was gone. With a thick heavy feeling in her throat she called Admiral Pajandcan’s quarters.
“Sorry to wake you, Admiral, but I just received a message that I think you need to see immediately.”
Pajandcan rubbed at her sleepy eyes and tried to clear her head. “Very well, Captain. You may come to my private office at once.”
Mica scrambled up the first ladder toward Pajandcan’s deck, as though by hurrying she could get rid of the awful truth she held in her hand. When she started up the second ladder, she realized what she was doing and forced herself to slow down. Nothing would be accomplished by getting there a minute or two earlier – no lives would be saved; no anger and sorrow would be washed away in the rush. There was no way to get rid of the feeling that was churning through her insides. And to think that in her last message to her father she had talked about how glad she was to be out here!
She forced herself to take the next two ladders slowly, giving the extra time to Pajandcan, who, from the sound of her voice, had just dragged herself out of a very sound sleep. It was a small enough courtesy in the face of the message Mica had to give
her.
“Tell me the gist of it,” Pajandcan said as she escorted Mica into her private office. “I can read the whole thing when you’re finished.” Sleep was still clinging to her brain like mold to old bread.
“The Ukes got Admiral Dimitri’s ship,” Mica said as evenly as she could, fighting the quaver in her voice.
“What? The Ukes? Was it a hunk attack?” Pajandcan asked as her brain came fully awake.
“We don’t know for sure yet, Admiral.” What Mica really wanted to do was to hand Pajandcan the message and run back to her quarters to cry. Dimitri, why Dimitri? “All we do know is that the Greelee exploded as it was leaving the system.”
“Space –suckers!” Pajandcan cursed. “I told Dmitri that it was stupid for him to make this inspection tour himself. But no, he had to do it – showing the flag, he called it.” She paused and looked at Mica, surprised that her anger was directed at Dimitri. It was Dimitri’s fault that the Ukes had been able to kill him. “Were there any survivors?”
“None,” Mica said softly, as if by her very tone she could lessen the loss of so many lives. “By the time the Phantell arrived, there wasn’t much of anything left. I made them verify before I called you.”
“How many?”
“Three hundred fifteen.”
Pajandcan felt her stomach turn. Three hundred and fifteen people, gone. Just like that. With no warning. What a waste, a shameful waste. And where was she going to find someone to replace Dimitri? She held out her hand, and Mica placed the message in it almost tenderly. Pajandcan took it to her desk, sat down, and read it word for word, trying to make the connection between this piece of printout, with its series of little symbols, and the robust Dit. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t do it.
Mica watched her until doing so made her pain that much worse, and she forced herself to stare at the only decoration in the room – a little holo of Reckynop in Matthews system, the way it had looked before the Ukes almost destroyed it.
“All right, Mica,” Pajandcan said finally as she stood up and walked slowly from behind her desk with the message clutched in her hand. “Thanks for getting this to me so quickly. Find Admiral Dawson and tell him I want to see him as soon as possible. Oh, and one other thing,” she said, laying a hand on Mica’s arm as she started to leave.
“Ma’am?”
“Make me a current list of all the senior officers in my command. We’re going to have to find a replacement for Dimitri.”
“Will do,” Mica said. Then on impulse she wrapped her arms around Pajandcan and hugged her firmly, pleased that her hug was returned. Without a word they released each other and shared a look that needed no words until Mica said, “Dawson. And the list.”
“Right,” Pajandcan sighed.
After leaving the office and closing the door, Mica walked slowly back down the first of the ladders toward the communications center. How could Pajandcan do that? How could she be thinking of a replacement when Dimitri was barely dead? Mica knew the answer to that question, but that didn’t make it sit any easier on her mind.
This wasn’t the first time that Mica was grateful she didn’t have a command out here, because having a command in a combat zone meant losing people you cared about – and having to think about replacements even before their bodies were cold – if there were bodies.
That thought finally brought the tears that had been swelling behind her eyes. She stopped on the deck above the communication center to get herself under control, but she couldn’t. The tears kept running silently down her face as fast as she could wipe them away. Two passing spacers stared at her, and then carefully averted their gaze. Behind them came a gray-headed old Fleet Gunner. As she started to turn away from him, he put his hand gently on her arm.
“You all right, Captain?”
She looked at him and saw something familiar in his face something that helped her quell the tears. “Yes, Gunner I’ll be all right.”
“It’s about the Greelee, ain’t it, Captain?”
“How did you...”
“Word gets around about something like that pretty quick on an HQ ship. You sure you’re okay?”
“Yes, Gunner, but thank you.” Only after he turned and continued down the companionway did Mica realize what it had been about him that had helped her regain control. For some reason he reminded her of Henley, and whatever it was about both of them, it gave her the reassurance she needed.
With a wondering shake of her head, she descended the last ladder to the communication center, knowing more about herself than when she started the climb and now faced with more questions she would have to answer about her relationship with Henley.
13
“WELL, WHAT DO YOU THINK, SERGEANT? From your professional point of view, I mean. Am I anywheres near ready to lead a Z-company into battle?”
“Honest truth, Colonel?”
Ingrivia felt a quiet flash of resentment against Denoro’s less than total acceptance of her, but she let it pass because she knew that acceptance would only come with time and experience. “Of course I want the truth. Hav’not you learned yet that I never want to be lied to?”
Denoro stared at the pale gray-green ceiling of Colonel Ingrivia’s cabin, then slowly tilted her head back down until her eyes rested on the colonel’s. “I’d say... that you...as a colonel, that is…when all your handicaps are taken into –“
“Gush it up, Denoro. Yes or no?”
“Almost,” Denoro said simply with a wide grin on her face.
Despite Denoro’s grin, Rasha’kean was not sure how she should take that. “What do you mean, almost?”
“I mean you’re about as ready as anything short of actual battle experience can make you. And that I can’t give you. You’ll have to get it from the Ukes.”
“Would you follow me into battle?”
“Yes, Colonel, I would,” Denoro said without hesitation.
“You woul’not be foolin’ your commandin’ officer, would you, Denoro? I woul’not take kindly to that.”
“You told me not to lie, Colonel, so what you get from me is the bare-butt truth. If we had to jump into combat tomorrow, I’d follow right behind you without thinking about it twicet. You got good sense, Colonel, and that puts you about ten strides in front of half the officers I ever served under. Most of them were – well, maybe I shouldn’t be talking like this.”
“No, I mean, yes, go on,” Rasha’kean said. “I need to ken what I do that make you think I’m a good officer. If I ken what the bad ones did wrong in your estimation, then maybe I can keep from making the same mistakes. She meant what he said and realized that having Denoro’s respect was very important to her.
Denoro hesitated; when she spoke, she did so very deliberately. You have to understand that I don’t mean to be bad-mouthing officers in general. But like I said there were some officers that was just damned hard to fight under.” Again she hesitated.
“You see, Colonel, I’ve been in this woman’s Service a long time, going on twenty-seven life-years, it’s been, and if I’ve learned anything about officers during that time, it’s that none of them can be trusted till they prove themselves.”
Rasha’kean cocked an eyebrow. What Denoro said made sense, but Rasha’kean had never considered the necessity of an officer proving herself to her troops. “How? How do they have to prove themselves?”
Denoro smiled. “It’s easy in wartime. You just put their butts on the firing line and see what they do. If they choke up and go stiff on you, you get rid of them as fast as you can ship them out. If they scrabble up the hill no matter how scared they are, then you keep ‘em.”
“I ken I’m gettin’ an education here,” Rasha’kean said. “But go back to gettin’ rid of them. How does a sergeant get rid of an officer?”
“Lots of ways, Colonel, but the easiest is to turn them in to officers who’ve scrabbled up the hill themselves. They’ll find a way to get you a replacement, because they don’t want anybody like that on t
heir flank if they can’t depend on them.”
“Sounds like common sense to me. But how do they prove themselves in peacetime?” Rasha’kean asked. This was turning into an amazing conversation.
“That’s a bit harder, ‘cause you see, Colonel, somehow an officer – say an officer like you-has got to prove herself to the troops so they know she’s gonna get them through the tough spots if war ever does come. So what usually happens in peacetime is that the senior sergeants put their heads together and figure a way to test that officer.”
“You mean an individual test for each officer?”
“Sure. No other way to do it. Like you say your whole unit was sent to one of the Service’s Mountain Schools, and suppose in the middle of a real-time cliff-scaling exercise, on a course up a cliff that this officer chose for them, some of the troops got tangled in their lines halfway up the face.”
Rasha’kean had a strange feeling about what was coming next as she remembered a similar incident back when she was a very young Post-Lieutenant, but the look on Denoro’s face told Rasha’kean nothing, so she held her tongue and let Denoro continue.
“Now, an officer’s got a handful of simple choices in a case like that. She can order some of her troops down to get them unsnarled, or she can order a sergeant down to do the job, or she can go herself with or without help.”
“I’d go myself – with help,” Rasha’kean said.
Denoro smiled. “That’s exactly what you did, Colonel.”
“You mean – but how did you ken?” Rasha’kean asked. “That was fifteen, sixteen years ago.”
Denoro’s smile got wider, splitting her narrow face. “Seems there was this young trooper in your squad that day who until a few days ago was a Tech Sergeant working in S.S.HQ. It took me a little time to find him, but when I did, he told me the story.”
Rasha’kean chuckled and shook her head. “I d’not believe this. You mean, Sergeant Denoro, that you were checkin’ up on me? How did you do it?”
“It’s not too hard, Colonel. You see, whenever she can, a sergeant wants to know what her C.O. is going to be like, so I pulled a few strings, using what you’d already told me about when you were a troop leader. A buddy of mine ran all that through HQ’s magical mystery computer, looking for matches with anyone on Nordeen who’s ever served under you. Was just lucky that I found Millyus, ‘cause he was the only one, and he had orders to ship out to Roberg. Caught him right before he left.”
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