AN: So, this one isn't particularly long, especially not when compared with the last handful of chapters. However, I wanted to update the story before I went away for training. Yup, that's right, folks, I'm going to be going to a military base for the entire month of August. I'm helping my unit prepare for a deployment, which means a lot of paperwork and shuttling supplies and people, so I don't know how much time I'm going to have for writing. I'm also not certain if I'll have internet access, either. In short, please be patient through August. If you don't see any updates, now you know why.
In other news, I'm starting a short story that I hope to get published when I complete it. It shouldn't interfere TOO much with Pandora's Shadow, but who knows what will happen when. My Junior year of college will also be starting for me soon, but that simply means that when I'm not studying or playing xbox, I can still write. Crazy random happenstance abound, Pandora's Shadow is also now 100 pages long in microsoft word! Neat, huh? Hopefully you guys enjoy this chapter!
Read, Enjoy, and Please Review!
THE PRICE OF LEADERSHIP
There were times when General Treleaven truly hated being in the military. For the most part, he loved it, as it was a challenging career choice that he had constantly worked at and tried to be the best that he could, not only as an officer but also as a moral and good person. Unfortunately, there were times when he had to do the wrong thing in order to achieve the good and just objective. It was those times that kept him awake at night, and he had the nagging feeling that the Pandoran Campaign was going to be full of these moments. The first event that he was going to lose sleep over was the fact that he even had to declare war on the Na'vi. He would view that as a personal failure all the way to his grave. What if he had tried harder to reach the Na'vi leadership? What if he had been slightly more lenient in his terms of peace? What if, what if...every day was full of such things, and he couldn't second guess himself. What was done was done, even if he regretted the way that things had turned out to be. After war had been declared, he had no choice but to conduct it to the best of his abilities, which were quite extensive. He was certainly not the best general on Earth, and once he had been informed of the EEF's decision to name him as the commanding officer, he had immediately responded by sending in a forty-three page report that detailed three other officers who he personally felt would be able to conduct operations on Pandora better than he could. The response to his response was short and curt: "You are the commanding officer. Your opinions have been noted and dismissed. Congratulations. Suck it up." He still had that file saved somewhere...
If the necessity of war against the Na'vi was his first regret he earned whilst on Pandora, the rape of Lieutenant Storch and the things that followed it proved to be his greatest regret. His personal involvement in the horrid business began a week after the crime had been committed. He had heard of the rape, but was content with letting a military tribunal take care of matters. He would sit on the judging panel when the time came, but he figured that there would be no need for the case to affect his daily life. It was horrifying that it had happened, of course, and he had been angry and shocked when he had first heard about it. Lieutenant Storch was a young, capable, and so far as he could tell, smart officer. So long as she didn't die, he was convinced that she had a good chance to end up in his seat some day long after he was gone. After she had provided security for him during the negotiations, he had read her file, and had been extremely impressed. She was a solid officer, and what's more, he was starting to like the young lady. She reminded him a great deal of himself, way back when he was still young enough to be full of piss and vinegar.
So, the news had dealt him a hammer blow of shock and anger. Of all the people that it could have happened to, she deserved it the least. However, there was little that he could do. Thus, it came as a shock when he was interrupted while doing some logistical work by a sharp knock on the door. He looked up to see Lieutenant Rockwell standing at the door, nervously biting her lip. "Yes, Lef-tenant?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow. "Is anything the matter?"
"Uh, sir...there's some of the Special Forces officers asking if they can speak with you."
He frowned. "I'm not scheduled to speak with them, am I?"
"Ah, no sir...they look very determined."
He snorted and sat back in his chair. "I'd be rather concerned if they didn't look determined, Lef-tenant. Send them in, if you would, as well as some coffee and tea." She nodded, turned around, and headed towards the entrance of the office. He expected the higher ranking officers, so when a colonel entered, followed by a lieutenant colonel, followed by a captain, followed by a lieutenant came in he was surprised. He had the entire chain of command for the Special Forces Company in his office. Lieutenant Storch, Captain Burns, Lieutenant Colonel MacDougal, and Colonel Reed. He suddenly realized what was going on, he leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk while steepling his fingers before his mouth. "Close the door," he ordered quietly without taking his eyes off of the group in front of him. "Lef-tenant Rockwell, admit no one into the office until these chaps leave, not even God Himself, am I understood?" She nodded, face paling as she left, closing the door shut. "I must say, I'm surprised to see you all here. Especially since Colonel MacDougal and Colonel Reed are in charge of more than just our little Special Forces unit. Colonel MacDougal, you are in charge of the Special Warfare Battalion, am I correct? This including Captain Burns' company, the Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations companies, and our Advanced Special Forces teams, of course."
"Yes sir," the tall and hulking man responded, voice surprisingly gentle for such a massive man. "Captain Burns came to me with an issue, and I didn't know how to handle it, so I went to Colonel Reed, and she was likewise befuddled."
Colonel Reed, the woman in charge of the single Infantry Regiment (short) on Pandora, nodded. "Sir, I'm sure that you've heard that Lieutenant Storch was raped, and we believe that we have a prime suspect, however..."she reported, visibly uneasy. He said nothing, just stared at the severe looking woman. In another life, she might have been the head librarian or the math teacher that scared children and adults alike. Infantry was more suiting for her, he had to say. "Sir, it's Corporal Sam Anderson."
His lip instantly curled back in disgust. "Oh, that little shit, eh?" Corporal Anderson was well known for being charged of several crimes even before the EEF showed up, but he had never been convicted. It didn't help that he was very charismatic and always had an alibi for every time that he came before a tribunal. He also had one more thing going for him: his mother's sister married Major Randall prior to his departure to Pandora, and Randall was very protective of his nephew. While not able to advance Anderson through the ranks for fear of being charged with nepotism, Randall found that he could prevent his nephew from being convicted. Treleaven knew that this time would prove no different. He even knew how it would go. They would try to charge Anderson with the rape of a female officer of the EEF, Major Randall would strongly advise against such a thing for fear of it, ah, permanently damaging the already strained relationship between the EEF and the RDA, which could lead to bloodshed between the two groups of humans, and Anderson would have an alibi ready. They wouldn't be able to get him. "Well, Lef-tenant Storch, I regret to inform you that there's very little that I can do." He grimaced, and spread his hands apart. "If we charge him, it may result in open warfare between the EEF and the RDA, and God only knows the Randall will bloody protect him. I feel sick saying this, but we have to let him go."
Lieutenant Storch sucked in a breath, face going pale, though if it was from rage or from some other such emotion, he couldn't tell. "Sir," she hissed, teeth clenched and fists tightening. "Are you suggesting that we let a rapist go free? I've looked up the stats, there have been more women who have been raped under similar conditions...he's done it before and he'll do it again, I know it!"
He sighed sadly. "I know, and I hate that my hands are so tied, but there's nothing that I can do." He paused, and leaned forward over his desk. "However, I'm sure that no one will be overly distressed if the good Corporal ends up in a ditch somewhere after a rape attempt goes horribly, horribly wrong."
She swallowed heavily, and all the other officers fidgeted. What he was suggesting...it was madness! "Sir, are you suggesting that I..."
He frowned, and let a hint of frost touch his words. "Lef-tenant, I am suggesting nothing, I am merely stating a fact. Do with it what you will. I can't do anything about Anderson. You lot are dismissed." They all went to attention before turning and leaving, and he couldn't miss the look of anger on Lieutenant Storch's face. Once the door was shut, he sighed heavily. She wasn't the only one who was angry. He hated that he couldn't do anything officially, though he wouldn't be surprised if Corporal Anderson ended up dead within the next few months. If there was anyone who could do the clandestine operation of assassinating the rapist, it was Lieutenant Storch and her soldiers. Anderson chose the wrong person to rape. Shaking his head slightly, he stood, and grabbed his exopack. He couldn't spend the entire day brooding over a single unfortunate event, no matter how severe the event was. He had a job to do. He entered into the outer office and found his aides already ready to go. "Captain, Lef-tenant, let's go conduct a war."
Ten minutes later they were in the base's central Command and Control Center. It was from here that he would be conducting the war against the Na'vi, and several of the other highest ranking officers were already in the room. He nodded briskly to Major Randall, and the man returned the nod with the slightest of head tilts. Colonel Reed was also there, and he met her eyes briefly before looking away, partly in shame and partly to acknowledge the other officers who were there. The charismatic and hard charging Lieutenant Colonel Viktor Rommel, descendent of the famous WWII tank commander. It was only fitting that he was in charge of the EEF Armored Cavalry Regiment. Then there was the short and stocky Colonel Josef Sarkov, who had started his career as a Russian fighter pilot, and produced several brilliant essays on the subject of using air assets to the best of their ability. He was the architect behind using two high-speed multi-purpose aircraft on the Tree of Souls mission, rather than using a large and slow air armada as Colonel Miles Quaritch did. Sarkov was in charge of all Air Force squadrons on Pandora, and had been wildly successful thus far in striking high priority targets. All four officers had their own junior officer aides, and he looked over all of them with a sharp eye.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am sure that all of you are well aware of the developing situation. There is an army of Na'vi warriors gathering on the plains one hundred and thirty-two miles to our southwest. Their numbers are at about one hundred thousand at the moment, though satellite surveillance has revealed that there are even more warriors arriving from distant settlements. Our satellites have also revealed what appears to be mobile anti-aircraft batteries amidst their ranks. Thus far there only appear to be twenty millimeter, thirty millimeter, and fifty millimeter batteries, but Mister Sully has been going through great pains to deploy tarpaulins that hide certain sections of his formations, so we can't be certain that they don't have other weapons that they wish to keep as a surprise.
"While Colonel Sarkov would no doubt be able to inform you that while our aircraft do have the ability to strike their army from outside of their anti-aircraft defenses, the bombs used would not be extremely accurate, and it would be a waste of overall munitions. Therefore, I wish to use our forces in a surgical strike." He walked towards the front of the room, where a large map flickered to life. One of the more useful items in the room, it was updated every five minutes by satellite. Presently, it showed the Na'vi army, as well as the surrounding one hundred miles of land. "I would like for Colonel Reed and Major Randall to move in and dig in here," he said, motioning to an area that was slightly raised from the land around it, about eighty miles from the Na'vi forces. "Unmanned drone aircraft have already extensively scouted the area, and this is the best area to dig in. Lef-tenant Rommel, you will have your forces perform a raid against their lines in an effort to draw their forces into a chase." Blue unit markers appeared, not only showing where Rommel was to attack, but also where Reed and Randall were to station their forces.
"Our long range weapons are to be used to knock out their AAA batteries so that our aircraft, on standby thirty miles to the rear, can come in and perform close air support. While we will be unable to airlift in our MLRS units, our one-oh-five and one-fifty-five millimeter howitzers will be airlifted into a forward artillery base here, ten miles to the rear of our forward positions. They will have anti-aircraft pieces and a small detachment of infantry for protection. For our reserves, I would like to have Captain Burns and his Special Forces standing by as our quick reaction force. Should a hole develop in our lines or if a unit gets cut off, they will be the ones to go in for the rescue. Once the Na'vi anti-air assets have been removed, our attack aircraft will come in and break the Na'vi attack. Once the Na'vi fall back, we will NOT pursue. This is a dedicated raid, not a permanent attack. I only wish to destroy some of their more powerful defensive weapons and to show them our resolve. If we overextend ourselves, we may end up being routed, and since the majority of our forces will be conducting this raid, we can not afford to make any mistakes. Are there any questions?" There was silence from those assembled. "Right. All details will be available on your datapads. You lot need to draw up battle plans and submit them by the end of tomorrow evening. This operation will take place no later than oh-eight hundred four days from now. The Na'vi will still be far enough away from the area where Reed and Randall will be for the operation to work. Sarkov, I need you to continue to strike their supply lines and troop clusters as best you can. You are all dismissed."
Immediately, the four officers turned to one another and began to talk as they figured out what companies went where, and who was expected to do what. Treleaven left the room, content to let his officers do what they were trained to do. It would not be long now to the first true battle of the war, and he found himself in a state of sick apprehension. There was little that he could do besides trust in his officers and his soldiers. They were some of the best out there, and they would not fail him. Now, he only had to not fail them...