Screening the flank.
"So, we just sit upon that ridge and look for someone coming?" Castle asked.
Somewhere deep within his trademark black beard, Colonel Black Jacques Schram smiled.
"You've got it, Lieutenant. The whole brigade and a brigade of Duke Erwin's troops is going to go barrel assing down the Pikkon Valley. If we can turn the enemy's flank there, we can cut his lines of communication and when he runs out of whatever food, fuel and ammo he has right now, we can roll him up at our leisure. But we have to make sure he doesn't hit us in the flank as we try to hit him. We're pretty sure he thinks we're going to hit him by way of the plains. Better tank country and all that. But, if he hasn't really taken the bait, or he wises up too soon…"
"He'll have us by the balls." Castle finished for him.
"Smart young lad." Schram said, then went on. "The only good place to come at our flank is through the Govrind Gap. It's got a devil of a swamp on either side of it. You'd be lucky to get light infantry through there, let alone armor, artillery or any kind of vehicles. A battalion or two coming through there could really mess us up. If one comes."
"I hope my platoon isn't expected to fight off a battalion or two." Castle said with a smile. "We're good, but I'm not sure we're that good.
Colonel Schram laughed.
"I like a man with confidence, Lieutenant. I really do. You won't have to worry about taking on a battalion or two. But the bandits do patrol that area. If a patrol of theirs gets past the ridge, they might see too much. You'll be there to stop that. They know we put outposts on the ridge all the time, so finding a platoon there won't set off any alarm bells. We hope. By the way, how is your platoon?"
"We've received a whole bunch of replacements, sir, and a few veterans back from the hospital. I have four squads each of twelve men, plus my command team."
"And you have some extra weapons that aren't on your table of organization and equipment?"
Castle tried not to look guilty and failed.
Schram laughed.
"I've been a soldier since before you were born, son. I know all the tricks. What do you have?"
"Each of my squads has a medium machine gun in addition to their usual weapons, sir. And I have a 51mm Han mortar with plenty of ammo with my command team."
"You'll have more than that, son. We just got in a ship load of replacements. There were only two Tarkai replacements, but those two are a sniper team. A sergeant Fa'an and a Corporal Dworal. They were the top team in sniper school, and they were diverted to Oranaise when that turned to shit, so they have some combat experience. They'll be along shortly. Now, let me show you the map."
Schram showed him the ridge on the map. It rose about two hundred meters above the surrounding countryside. The ridge was about eight hundred meters in length and dropped off very sharply at the ends. On either side of the ridge was swampland.
"As you can see, Lieutenant, we've been there before. There's a trench line that runs just about the whole length of the ridge, and maybe a dozen bunkers. It's been two weeks since we had a patrol based there and it's rained a lot since then, so you may have to dig out some of the tranches. Now, the entrance to the bunkers is from the reverse slope of the ridge, but the bunker's firing positions are on the forward slope. They're just slits, and they're overgrown as all hell. You'll probably have to trim some of them away, but the enemy'll have a hell of a time spotting them. You'll have about fifteen hundred meters of open ground in front of you and then the forest. There's a road about another two klicks into the forest. Not much traffic on it as far as we know."
He smiled at Castle.
"Any questions?"
Castle had none and was dismissed.
He got sergeant Saava and went to pick up his new sniper team.
Sergeant Fa'an was big for a Tarkai, not overly tall, but heavily built. He seemed to have little to say. Corporal Dworal, the spotter, was thinner and had all manner of questions.
Castle and Saava asked the two about their training and their combat on Oranaise. In the end, they decided they had a good sniper team.
This time they had lift ships to take them to the ridge. Still, they had to march part of the way.
"Why do we have to march?" Corporal Dworal asked Corporal Boonef. "They could have landed us right on top of the ridge."
"We don't keep the ridge permanently occupied. If there's someone watching the ridge, there's no point in letting them know we're there. They might try to kill our sorry asses."
The ridge was as advertised. A trench line ran down the reverse slope. Castle inspected it and found several places where the trench walls had caved in due to rain. He set his platoon to repairing the damage. The bunkers were more solidly built and only need trash cleaned out of them. Castle counted twelve of them.
"We'll put first squad in the bunker on the far right and the fourth squad in the bunker on the far left. I know there's a hellacious swamp down there, but keep an eye out. I don't want anyone sneaking past us. We'll move two and three squads around, switching bunkers every other day. Two on the right and three on the left. We'll put the command team in the middle. Two more things, we need to dig a pit on the reverse slope for our mortar and we need someplace for our sniper team."
"Lance Corporal Phu'un, as the platoon artillery commander, where do you want our mortar?"
Phu'un, newly promoted, smiled.
"Right behind the command bunker, sir. That way we can hit just about the whole open space and even a little bit into the swamp if we have to. We can cover the open ground almost all the way to the far trees, but there's no way we can drop anything in the forest from here."
"We have artillery on call for that." Castle said, hoping the artillery wasn't too busy supporting the brigade's attack to help out an isolated platoon.
Sergeant Fa'an spoke as well.
"The bunker to the right of the command bunker will be fine for us, sir."
Castle nodded and without another word, Fa'an and Dworal picked up their gear and headed for what was now the sniper's bunker.
That night, when only the smallest and darkest moon was up, Castle sent to patrols out, each consisting of a five-man fire team. They were to scout to the forest and if they found nothing, see if they could find the road.
When they returned, they reported they had found nothing and that the road was a poorly maintained, narrow dirt track that didn't appear to have had much traffic on it.
For two days things were quiet. Castle set his platoon to improving their entrenchments and making the bunkers stronger.
On the third day they had visitors.
"Saber Six this is Shooter Three Four. Over."
Castle grabbed the radio's mic and wondered what Sergeant Fa'an had seen.
Shooter Three Four this is Saber Six Actual. What do you have? Over."
"Dworal has some heat signatures moving this way. About two hundred yards in the forest. Over."
"Keep and eye on this and kept me informed. Out."
Castle made sure that his whole platoon knew they were not to open fire unless he gave the order. He specifically told them not to open fire even if the enemy, assuming they were enemy troops, opened fire.
"Sometimes they'll let off a burst just to see if anyone is at home. Reconnaissance by fire they call it. If we sit tight, maybe they'll decide no one's here and leave us alone. Maybe."
Shortly, a dozen enemy troops walked out of the forest and stood looking up at the ridgeline. There was a lot of pointing up at where Castle's troops were, but no movement. Then the enemy sat down and began eating.
"They're cooking up some chicken, sir." Saava said. "We can smell it all the way up here. We haven't had any fresh meat for a while."
"Are you suggesting we shoot up an enemy patrol and start something so we can all have some chicken?"
Saava sighed.
"No, sir. That would be dumb. But it'd sure taste good."
"When we get back, I'll see if we can buy some fresh meat in town. That'll make everyone feel better."
When they were through eating, the patrol stretched out on the ground and took a nap. Castle couldn't see that they had even a single sentry around.
"My three daughters could slaughter that bunch." Corporal Tarn grumped. "There's no excuse for being sloppy in a combat zone. None at all."
Saava studied them through Castle's binoculars.
"I make them as village militia from their equipment and weapons. Probably pissed off at being sent out on patrol and are congratulating themselves on putting one over on their commanders. They'll go back and tell everyone they scouted all the way to the damned ocean and found nothing. Lazy sods."
"All the more reason to leave them alone." Castle said.
As the patrol began to leave, one member faced away from the ridge, dropped his trousers and took a dump. Castle knew that every member of his platoon was salivating at the thought of shooting his ass off. No one did.
The enemy patrol disappeared back into the forest.
Two more days passed before they had more visitors.
"People coming." Corporal Dworal said, sticking his head into the command bunker. "Fa'an says they look like they're more professional than the idiots we saw a couple of days ago. They're well spread out and moving cautiously, like they're expecting something."
Castle alerted the rest of his platoon and advised them not to shoot unless he gave an order.
Several minutes later a large squad of enemy troops came out of the woods and began moving towards the ridge.
'I count sixteen of them." Castle said.
"We outnumber them. We can open up and kill them all." Saava said, smiling. "They wouldn't even be able to get a radio message off."
"We could, but the loss of a large patrol would make people think. They might send a company to see what happened. Maybe a larger force. I have a better idea."
He briefed his sniper team and then the rest of his platoon. Sergeant Fa'an took careful aim at the man closest to the radio operator, assuming he was the patrol leader, and shot him. He dropped at once. The rest of the patrol took cover. Fa'an scanned the open area. Looking for heat signatures, he scanned the area. Most of the enemy were behind something solid. He had no chance of hitting them. But, he found one man who had taken cover behind what looked to Fa'an as a rotten log.
"Even if I don't hit him, I may scare him enough to get him to move into the open." He whispered to his spotter.
Fa'an guessed where the man's head might be, took aim and slowly squeezed the trigger. The rifle's suppressor muffled the sound of the shot enough that no one was able to pinpoint exactly where the shot had come from. The man's heat signature faded away indicating he was dead.
The enemy patrol remained under cover until well after nightfall, then crawled back to the forest and were gone.
"I could have killed a number of them as they crawled away." Sergeant Fa'an said to Castle after the enemy had left.
"And then they'd know a well trained and equipped sniper was up here. This way, if we're lucky, they'll think it's just one of Duke Erwin's lads who's a pretty good shot and not get too worked up about it."
They were not lucky.
"Saber Six this is Shooter Three Four. Over."
"Shooter Three Four this is Saber Six Actual. What do you have, Fa'an? Over."
"Saber Six Actual, I have many heat signatures moving through the forest headed to us. Maybe a reinforced company. Over."
"Keep an eye on them and keep me informed. Out."
The enemy company stopped just inside the forest and sent a patrol headed for the ridge and Castle's troops.
"Hell!" Castle muttered. "They know someone's up here."
He quickly made his plans. He decided that they'd let the enemy get within about two hundred yards, to a stretch with no cover at all, and then have second squad take them out. That way the rest of the enemy might think the ridge was lightly held.
That part of the plan worked. The six-man enemy patrol was cut down at once. The rest didn't go so well. The enemy brought mortars into action, pounding the top of the ridge. Luckily, the platoon was well dug in and they suffered no casualties. But, there was more.
"Saber Six, this is Righty One. Over." That was the squad on the far right.
"Righty One, this is Saber Six Actual. What do you have? Over."
"Saber Six Actual, I have maybe a platoon moving through the swamp. I can just see their heat signatures intermittently. I've taken some shots at them, but all I think I'm hitting is trees. Over."
"Righty One, keep them busy. I'll try to get artillery on them. Out."
"Sir, we got a message from Lefty Four. They have movement in the swamp on their side." Sergeant Saava added.
Castle got on the radio.
"Thunder Horse Central this is Saber Six Actual. I have a fire mission for you. Over."
There was a long silence and Castle was about to repeat his call when there was a reply.
"Saber Six Actual this is Thunder Horse Central. We cannot give you any help. Repeat, we cannot help. We've moved too far away. We're chasing the enemy away even faster than we thought. We might be able to get you some gunships in about three hours. Will that help? Over."
"Thunder Horse Central, this is Saber Six Actual. That won't help. I'll advise Black Horse Six that I'll have to abandon the ridge. Out."
Castle was about to advise Colonel Schram that he would have to pull out and needed some lift ships when the enemy mortar fire stopped.
Castle went to the view slit of the bunker.
"They're not attacking. They'd keep pounding us until their infantry was right on top of us."
"Saber Six this is Righty One Actual. It looks to us like the enemy on my side is pulling back. Over."
"Righty One Actual this is Saber Six Actual. Are you sure? Over."
There was a brief pause until Righty One Actual replied.
"Saber Six Actual this is Righty One Actual. I'm sure. I have heat signatures moving away from us."
"Keep an eye on them, Righty One Actual. Out."
While Castle had been on the one radio, Lefty Four Actual had radioed that the enemy seemed to be pulling back on his side as well. Sergeant Fa'na advised that the heat signatures in the forest seemed to be moving away as well.
"They're running for it." Castle said, happily.
"Why?" Saava asked. "Once they got through the swamp, they could have attacked us from behind. We have no defenses there."
"What's the range of our 155s?" Castle asked.
Saava smiled as he figured it out.
"Their range is between 75 and 90 kilometers, depending on the ammo they use. If our artillery is too far away to support us, the brigade must be sitting on the enemy's supply lines. The bandits must be screaming for all the help they can get to try to get away."
"Very good, Sergeant Saava,"
Down Time
They had had to wait on the ridge for two more days until there were enough lift ships to bring them back to the brigade's main base. The bandits and their Han volunteers had taken a beating but were still in the fight.
Castle hadn't been able to find any fresh chicken for his men, but some bright entrepreneur had set up a shop selling what he fondly imagined were off world delicacies to the mercenary troops. Castle found that he sold cheeseburgers made from a mixture of beef, pork and venison. His platoon loved them.
So, Lieutenant Richard Castle found himself sitting with his platoon as they gobbled down their cheeseburgers and made a sizeable dent in his bank account. Still, he was happy. He had completed his first combat assignment without screwing up or making himself look foolish. His platoon had accepted him as a competent commander, and all was well. So far.
He sat back and wondered what the future held for him. He'd been driven from his home as a child after his family had been slaughtered. He had vowed to return some day, but now that dream seemed very far off.
"Lieutenant Castle?"
He looked up to see another lieutenant that he vaguely knew was from brigade headquarters.
"That's me."
"The colonel would like to see you. He has an idea and your people are exactly what he needs. Come with me, please."
Lieutenant Rick Castle picked up his gear and headed for his next assignment.
The End
Author's note: My next story will see both Rick Castle and Kate Beckett together again. The two will have adventures in the Asia at the beginning of the twentieth century in Richard Castle and the USS Santa Barbara. (Now where did I get that ship name?) At least they will when I write it. I have about two chapters done so far.