L13TH 03 Jump Pay

by Rick Shelley

  The terrain around Site Charley, and on south of the peninsula, was considerably different from that around the other two Heggies bases on the planet. Site Bravo had appeared to be devoid of any macroscopic native life forms. In the short time the 13th had been there, no one had seen any sort of plant life, and not even a single insect. Site Alpha had displayed a number of varieties of ground-hugging moss and a considerable selection of tiny insects. The biggest animals seen around Site Charley were also insects, but some of the species were rather larger–comparable to a common housefly in size if not in appearance. But the real difference was in plant life. Besides mosses, there were several distinctive types of fungus, including at least three species of giant mushrooms or toadstools. The largest grew to be as much as three meters high and spread canopies up to four meters in diameter. There was even, in a few places, ground cover that Iooked–at a distance–like grass but which was actually another sort of “hairy” moss with blades up to ten centimeters high.

  The peninsula was rocky and uneven, offering considerable cover for infantry and vehicles. There were rocky ridges and stretches that looked as if a mountain had been broken up and its pieces strewn around at random boulders from a meter in diameter to chunks that were larger than an artillery shuttle. There were several roads leading from one end of the peninsula to the other–not paved roads, but lanes that had been cleared of smaller obstacles, with detours around the larger ones.

  South of the peninsula, which was primarily rock, there were considerable areas of soil, mostly clay. The terrain was gently rolling, with long valleys running northwest to southeast. Some of those valleys showed evidence that–occasionally at least–they held running water. Gradually, the land became higher to the south, reaching eventually to mountains that peaked at slightly more than two thousand meters.

  Coming in by shuttle, the 5th SAT and the 34th LIR had been forced to land south of the canal. The Schlinal garrison, and the troops that had been gathered for the next offensive, were prepared, waiting for the Freebies to show. The Heggies had fiercely defended the line of the canal. The Schlinal warlord responsible for all of the troops that had been gathered on Tamkailo had his headquarters at Site Charley, and when the orbiting satellites were knocked out simultaneously, he had immediately ordered his troops on alert. Men and tanks were being rushed south from the northern end of the peninsula within minutes. Boem fighters were in the air even faster. At Site Charley the aircraft were not caught on the ground.

  When General Dacik and his staff finally landed behind the Accord positions south of Site Charley, the 5th and 34th still had not managed to cross the canal in force. Two patrols by recon platoons and SI teams had been forced to retreat with heavy casualties, recrossing the canal by rope, under fire. Three attempts to cross the bridges had been repulsed, with casualties heavy on both sides. The duels in the air, and between armor and artillery on the ground had been battles of attrition. The 5th’s Havocs had been forced to withdraw beyond the range of Nova main guns–and that put the main Schlinal base at the north end of the peninsula far out of range for them.

  “They’re just sitting there, and there hasn’t been a thing we could do about it,” Colonel Jesiah Kane, commander of the 5th, reported when he met the general’s shuttle. Kane had been in tactical command of the forces at Site Charley. “Before 17th Air got here, we couldn’t even contain their Boems. With the 17th, we managed to keep at least parity in the air, but we still haven’t been able to use our Wasps to significant advantage. Those stone buildings will take anything we can throw at them from the air. It’s like trying to knock down the pyramids back on Earth.” Kane, alone of the senior officers under Dacik’s command, was from Earth. Less than one percent of the Accord military came from the mother world.

  “I know,” Dacik said. He looked at the situation as shown on Kane’s mapboard. “The 8th and 97th will be moving into position with the next few minutes, and the 13th will be here in six or seven hours with a little luck.” At that point, Site Bravo had not yet been secured. Dacik had headed north immediately after the 13th’s shuttles had dropped toward Site Bravo. By the time his shuttle landed, he knew that the 13th was not running into significant opposition and had cleared the 8th and 97th for the final operation.

  “I don’t know yet how much armor the Heggies have here, but it must be at least two full regiments, perhaps a lot more,” Kane said. “We’ve destroyed at least forty Novas, but they keep bringing more into play.”

  “They never used their tanks at Site Alpha,” Dacik said, a bit absently. He was listening to an intelligence report over his helmet radio at the same time.

  Around the two commanders, Dacik’s headquarters staff was setting up shop. For the moment, Dacik planned to operate out of his shuttle, but duplicate operations were set up outside it, and two hundred meters away. A shuttle on the ground would be too inviting a target if any enemy aircraft got through the Wasp shield. If and when he moved away from the landing zone, General Dacik had an armored personnel carrier to serve as a mobile command post.

  Kane started to say something, but Dacik held up a hand to stop him. He wanted to hear the end of the report he was getting over the radio. When it was finished, he let out a long breath and looked at Kane.

  “The 13th is closing things up at Site Bravo. No opposition at all, to speak of. It appears that the Heggies moved most of what they had out of there before we got to them. Here?”

  Kane nodded. “There was considerable activity the first night, shuttles landing right out toward the end of the peninsula, out of reach of our Havocs.” He shrugged. “The Wasps didn’t have any luck getting to them either. That was before the 17th arrived. Since then, they haven’t been able to get any shuttles into the air.” His laugh was sour. “Maybe I should say that they haven’t been able to keep them in the air.”

  “We’ll try the same thing with the 13th that we did at Site Bravo,” Dacik said. “Drop them right on top of the enemy. We’ll stage the rest of our forces here. No matter what the cost, we’re going to have to force a crossing over the canal to get up the peninsula in a hurry once the 13th lands. They won’t be able to hold out forever up there, especially since we’ll have to bring their Havocs and support elements out here.”

  “General, the Heggies have at least six thousand men on that peninsula. That’s SI’s estimate. My own guess is that the number might be twice that, mostly military. This is the easiest climate on the world. It’s where they staged the bulk of the invasion force they were gathering. The 13th, even if they were at full strength . . .” Kane stopped and shook his head. “They won’t be able to hold out very long at all.”

  “Then it’s up to us to make sure that they don’t have to. We’ll start our push an hour before sunset, hit the Schlinal defensive line with everything we’ve got, and keep at it. The 13th will drop on the Heggie base ninety minutes after sunset by that time, I hope that the Heggies will have moved the overwhelming bulk of their forces south to face us. I’ll have the 13th’s Wasps come in from the north as well, just ahead of the infantry. Hit ‘em from behind. Work to get as much confusion going as possible.”

  “And hope we confuse them more than we do ourselves?” Kane asked.

  * * *

  The 13th stayed on the ground at Site Bravo until very nearly dawn. The artillery and the support units were lifted first. The Wasps were fitted with the auxiliary modules that would give them enough power to boost to orbit and rendezvous with their carrier. There they would be given fresh batteries and have their munitions topped off for another descent, this one at Site Charley. The pilots would have a few spare minutes aboard ship, while it moved into position for their third attack descent of the campaign.

  By the time the 13th’s infantry boarded the shuttles at Site Bravo, half a world away from their next destination, there was a faint line of light on the eastern horizon, the first hint of a new day. They had already taken time for a mea
l and a couple of hours of rest. Not many men had actually managed to get any sleep.

  “We’re not going back to the ship this time, are we?” Wiz Mackey asked as he filed past Joe Baerclau, boarding the shuttle.

  “No, we’re going straight to Site Charley,” Joe replied. His visor was up, but he spoke loudly enough that most of the platoon heard him. “We’re going to hit them there the same way we did here.” Captain Keye had relayed that news just minutes before.

  “I just hope it turns out as simple,” Mort said, giving Wiz a nudge. Mackey had stopped in the doorway.

  “Don’t count on it, Professor,” Joe said. “From what I hear, the Heggies have been putting up a real fight up north. That’s why they need us to finish ’em off.”

  “Yeah, any manure detail comes along, send for the 13th,” Jaiffer said as he followed Wiz into the shuttle.

  * * *

  So far, there had been time for only the most preliminary of briefings. Colonel Stossen had given the company commanders the first instructions he had received from General Dacik. More detailed plans had to wait until they were formulated. That was what Colonel Stossen and his staff were trying to do at the moment. The conference was being held in the open, between two shuttles, with the entire command staff physically present. They would split up between the two landers, as usual, for the ride north and the coming combat jump. Colonel Ruman, Dacik’s operations officer, was on link, trying to follow what was being said.

  “It won’t be as simple as it was here,” Stossen admitted. “Too many buildings, for one thing, and too spread out.” His mapboard was open and on the ground in the middle of the group. The view was a three-dimensional representation of the northern base. “And the Heggies have shown every intention of fully defending Site Charley. There’s been no sign of mutiny or revolt, no indication that surrender is a realistic expectation.”

  “We can’t count on the same level of surprise either,” Bal Kenneck warned. “We’ve jumped twice here. The folks at this location might well have had time to radio news to Site Charley of how we hit them. If it had been me, that’s the first thing I would have done.”

  Stossen nodded. “We’ll put the recon platoons on these roofs here, at the northern edge of the complex. The rest of us will land on the ground, half here”–he adjusted the mapboard to show a two-dimensional view from overhead and pointed–“on this open ground right at the end of the peninsula, on the north side of the complex. The rest will land over here, on the east, at the airfield, as close to these hangars as they can get. Those will be the first objective for that section. Tie off any ground support for the Heggies’ Boems.”

  “Which companies where?” Teu Ingels asked.

  “Cut ’em straight down the middle,” Stassen replied. “Alpha through Delta at the tip of the peninsula, Echo through Howard at the airfield.” Under most circumstances, Stossen would have been horrified at the thought of dividing his command so cavalierly, but he was too spent to be able to think straight enough to look for the minute differences between one group of soldiers and another that might make a particular company better suited for one objective or the other. “Senior company commander in each group to take immediate tactical control.”

  “That’s Captain Cavite from Charley and Captain Digby from Fox,” Dezo Parks said, supplying the names instantly.

  Stossen nodded. Once he heard the names, he knew that Parks was right. Recalling them first had been simply too much for his tired mind. “Tell them,” he said.

  In addition to being the two senior company commanders in the 13th, Ives Cavite and Jak Digby had been close personal friends since their days together in the military academy on Bancroft. Cavite’s nickname at the academy had been “the Cavity,” an obvious mispronunciation of his name, while Digby had inevitably been called Digger. Once out of the academy and serving together, those nicknames had soon metamorphosed into Hole and Mole–though rarely to their faces.

  “One thing,” Bal said. “It looks as if we can count on slightly more moderate weather at Site Charley. For what it’s worth, it’s winter in the northern hemisphere. That gives us a couple of degrees. The prevailing wind is from the northwest polar, as well.” Tamkailo’s axial tilt was only six degrees, and there was very little eccentricity to its orbit, so the differences between summer and winter were minimal. “The Heggies have been using their armor at Charley, day and night.”

  “Small blessings,” Parks mumbled.

  “Maybe not so small,” Stossen said. “I’ll take a little less heat in exchange for enemy tanks any day here. We outrange the Novas with our Havocs. There’s damn little we can do about the heat.”

  “This might be the last place we have that advantage,” Bal said. “The latest rumble I’ve heard is that the Heggies have finally come up with self-propelled artillery that’s in about the same class as our Havoc. They haven’t used them against the Accord yet, but there are indications that they’re testing them against the Dogel Worlds. One report suggests that these new Heggie SPs might even have a couple of klicks in range over the Havoc.”

  Stossen forced out a sigh. “As long as they don’t have those guns on Tamkailo, that’s all we can worry about now.”

  “And if we finish the job we started out to do here, we may never have to face them–if the general was right about crippling Schlinal offensive capability,” Parks said.

  “Don’t hold your breath,” Stossen suggested.

  * * *

  Hilo Keye spent most of the shuttle flight in a conference with regimental headquarters and the other company commanders. The plan of operations was drawn up en route. As soon as something almost solid was agreed to, Keye relayed it to his platoon leaders and platoon sergeants. Twice there were significant alterations that required new briefings.

  “I wish they’d make up their minds,” Frank Symes grumbled after Joe Baerclau passed along the latest changes. The shuttles were close to their objective. This journey had been much slower than most assault runs. There would be no screaming descent from orbit. Most of the way, the landers had flown less than two hundred meters above the ocean, as they followed a great circle route over Tamkailo’s north polar region.

  “Time is making up their minds now,” Mort said. “Unless they put us in a holding pattern, we’re within fifteen minutes of our jump now.”

  The reflex was automatic. Each of the sergeants and corporals on the link checked the time line on his visor.

  “Do an inspection of the belts,” Joe instructed. “Make sure you see one hundred percent power on every indicator.” There were a few spares aboard the shuttle.

  While he waited for reports on the inspection, Joe stared at the mapboard on his lap again. The captain had indexed the views available for the assault area, the base, the airfield, and the terrain in between. CIC had had plenty of time to get all of the information on the Schlinal installation and known forces into the mapboard network. Details of the battle plan were being added even as Joe studied his board. Light yellow ellipses indicated the drop zones for each of the platoons. Bright blue lines showed the anticipated lines of advance, the buildings—primarily hangars for Echo Company—that were to be the initial objectives of the company.

  Dropping in the middle of an airstrip bothered Joe. There would be absolutely no cover for his men. If the Heggies were waiting for them . . .

  * * *

  Eustace’s smile showed gritted teeth. The 13th’s artillery had come by a slightly different route from the one taken by the infantry, moving more rapidly. The Havocs had been put right into the battle as soon as they came out of their shuttles south of the canal. The long-range duel had been going on for forty-five minutes now. Out on the peninsula, the Heggie tankers were showing more spunk than they usually did. With only half the range on their guns, they had to expose themselves to Havoc fire for at least eight minutes before they could get close enough to return it. But they
were doing it. Despite heavy losses, they kept coming south along the peninsula, forcing the Havocs to stand back out of range of the Schlinal base on the northern end of the peninsula.

  The Novas did their best to follow erratic courses on their way south, using fire and maneuver as best they could. By the time a Havoc shell got to where they had been, they were somewhere else. Boems were occupying Wasps in the air. That part of the battle was as much a standoff as this one, but with the aircraft on both sides suffering heavier losses.

  “Not a very efficient way to run a battle,” Karl Mennem said after the Fat Turtle “spoke” again. CIC was plotting position and course on a single Nova, or a company of them, at one time. Then as many as two full batteries of Havocs would saturate the area where CIC expected the tank or tanks to be by the time the artillery shells reached the end of their ballistic paths.

  Sometimes it worked. More often it didn’t.

  “We do what we can,” Eustace replied. “Jimmy, how you doin’?”

  “Just fine,” Ysinde replied. “This is almost like a winter exercise on Albion.” There was a short pause before he added, “Compared to Site Alpha.” It would be a long time before he would be able to forget the heat.

  “Yeah, well keep an eye on the thermometer, and if you start feeling the least bit woozy, let me know.”

  “Right, Gunny,” Ysinde said. “Just find us something to hit.”