Chapter 7
A loud tone sounded in Jer's helmet and he cursed with feeling. He was dead. So was nearly all his platoon. His communications system was cut off; he couldn't issue any orders now that he was dead, but his tactical display was still working and he saw that a half-dozen of his men were fleeing north, trying to join up with some other fragment of the regiment, but everyone else was a casualty. And all the heavy weapons were destroyed.
"Shit."
He noticed his platoon sergeant coming toward him and he opened up the visor of his helmet. "Well, Sergeant, looks like it's game over for us."
Shusterman nodded. "Yes, sir, but I'm thinkin' that someone stacked the deck against us."
Jer didn't say anything, but he nodded. It certainly did seem that way. The landing itself had gone like clockwork. The shuttles had placed them in the foothills of the mountains exactly where they were supposed to and then the regiment had moved out to secure its objectives. It had looked, for all the world, like a textbook landing with the assault troopers establishing a secure perimeter for the rest of the brigade to land in.
Unfortunately, the rest of the brigade wasn't on their side anymore.
They were now the Opposition Forces, the defenders of this hypothetical planet the 61st had landed on. Standard doctrine for the defense against an invasion was to hit the landing zone hard and fast and try to wipe it out before further invaders could arrive.
The 25th Brigade had hit hard and fast.
And there weren't any further invaders coming.
The 25th had emerged from their hiding places and smashed right through the 61st's perimeter. The assault troopers were spread too thinly to stop them. Oh, if it had just been the infantry of the 139th, they probably could have held them long enough to redeploy, but it was the heavy tanks of the 283rd and the artillery of the 32nd that had broken the line. The huge war machines were almost impossible to stop with the light weapons carried by assault troopers. Although they had stopped four of them. Jer felt really proud about that. By massing all of their anti-tank weapons they had managed to knock out four of the heavy tanks. Somehow a fifth one had been taken out by the infantry alone.
But that had been the end of the AT platoons. As soon as they had opened up, the enemy artillery had come raining down. The air defense platoons hadn't been able to stop all the fire and enough had gotten through to take out nearly all the heavy weapons. With them gone, the remaining tanks pushed right on through. Jer could see one of the metal beasts smashing through the trees and skellytums a half klick down the ridge. A line of enemy infantry was moving through Jer's position now and they were laughing and waving at all the 'dead' assault troopers.
"Bastards," muttered Shusterman.
Yeah, this had been a set-up for sure. An assault regiment would normally have a lot of orbital fire support to make up for its lack of really heavy weapons. Control of the space around the planet was a given, wasn't it? How could the assault troopers have gotten here if that wasn't the case? But there had been no fire support. And it wasn't like they needed actual warships in orbit for this exercise, just program it into the tactical computer and there you have it.
But they didn't have it and they were getting creamed. Jer looked at his tactical display again. Both sides were assumed to have orbital observation and orbital countermeasures so the information that came through was spotty and subject to errors, but it looked pretty clear that the 61st was getting pushed out of the hills and into the open plains and once they were in the open they'd be annihilated. Colonel Fetherbay had already expended most of the assault shuttles in hopeless attempts to even the odds. The handful that were left wouldn't be enough to evacuate many survivors.
Part of Jer was angry, but he supposed that they needed to train for handling defeat as well as victory. And it would certainly make the reservists feel good. Maybe that was the whole point of this: give them the confidence that they could stand up to first-line troops.
He looked back into the hills. Anny's company was supposed to be over that way somewhere to the southeast. He wondered how she was doing…?
[Scene Break]
"I think we're screwed, sir," said Sergeant Kay.
Anny took a deep breath and looked at her tactical display. Unfortunately, she was afraid that her platoon sergeant was correct. The 61st Imperial Infantry was looking at defeat in detail and there didn't seem to be a damn thing anyone could do about it.
She couldn't believe how quickly things had gone to hell. Her own platoon was still basically intact, she'd only lost five men, but the rest of C Company was wiped out or scattered to the four winds. Lieutenant Vorstang was down, Lieutenant Dahlberg was down and Ensigns Vorberg and Zolek, while still not listed as casualties, weren't answering their coms. Technically that made her the senior officer in the company, but the company now consisted of the 3rd platoon—which she commanded anyway.
The landing had gone fine. They'd debarked and C Company was sent south into the hills and spread out in a long skirmish line. Their orders were to form a perimeter protecting the landing zone. They'd made contact with some enemy recon troops on skimmers, but they'd fallen back before Anny's troops could engage them. They'd reached their assigned locations and halted to await developments.
They hadn't been long in coming.
Artillery fire had poured down on them and then the heavy tanks had appeared. One had slammed into C Company's right flank. Anny's platoon had been farthest away, so Vorstang had ordered her to take over holding the rest of the company's line while he went after the tank with everyone else. And they'd done it, they'd taken out the tank, but at a terrible cost. And that left Anny holding a line five kilometers long with forty men. A large force of enemy infantry was following up behind the tank and while Anny had been trying to figure out how to deal with them, an order had come from Regiment telling everyone to fall back and regroup.
So they'd retreated. They'd out-distanced the pursuing infantry and broken contact, but the tactical display told her they had simply run out of luck. While they had been holding their initial line, strong enemy forces had passed by them on either flank and they were now in a three-sided box. And up ahead the cover was getting mighty thin. The north slope of the mountains was about as far as Terrestrial vegetation had spread and the native Barrayaran plants didn't provide much concealment.
Anny and her platoon had rallied next to a small cliff. A waterfall thundered over it and gathered in a deep pool at the base of the cliff and then rolled away, downhill toward the flat land. A clump of the last tall trees soared overhead. At another time it would be a beautiful spot for a picnic. She'd have to rent a light-flyer and take Jer up here sometime…
"So what do we do, Lieutenant?" asked Kay. "We stay here, we're dead for sure."
Yeah, that was true. There were at least two companies of the 139th on their tails and even though they could probably hold them, as soon as they tried the relentless artillery would blast them out. But if they kept moving, would it be any better? They couldn't go east or west; there was more infantry there and a pair of the tanks on each side. The only way open was due north and as soon as they lost their cover, they'd be hit from three sides. She'd lose two-thirds of her people before she could ever reach the rally point. The situation was clearly hopeless, but she hated losing everyone for nothing.
Her instinct was to turn back south and try to punch right through her pursuers, get into their rear and cause as much trouble as she could before they were wiped out. But as soon as they saw her coming, they would call in that damn artillery and the remaining enemy tanks weren't that far away and… She'd lose so many men breaking through she wouldn't have enough left to do anything—even if she survived to lead them. And the thought of Sergeant Kay being left in command was not a pleasant one.
So it would have to be north. That's what her orders were and it seemed the best bet, dismal as it was. Damn, if we could just drop out of sight… She looked around.
She saw it.
She stood and stared and frantically tried to find the flaw in the plan that had materialized in her head. There was a flaw—a big one, several, actually—but if it worked… Why the hell not?
"Lieutenant?"
"Third Platoon, listen up!" All in a clump like this, they were able to use tight-beam lasers to communicate without risk of giving themselves away. "The enemy thinks they've got us beat, but we've still got one trick up our sleeves. Follow me!" She headed south—right into the pool of water. It came up to her waist with a treacherous bottom. She kept going until she was standing right under the waterfall. She could feel the torrent beating on her armor. She looked back and saw her platoon hesitating. "Come on! Everyone in here with me! Close it up!" Her troopers closed up around her, nearly shoulder to shoulder.
"All right, we are going disappear for a while. We are going to hide here and let the enemy move past us and then we're going to kick them right in the ass."
"Lieutenant," said Kay, "they'll spot us even here. Our power emissions…"
"There won't be any power emissions, Sergeant. We are going to shut down our suits."
"What?" A dozen voices exclaimed in protest.
"You heard me. We are going to power down and hide underwater for an hour. The cold water will mask any IR emissions and they'll never think to actually look under the water."
"How will we breathe?" asked one of the men.
"We can keep our air scrubbers working. They can run off our batteries."
"I don't know how to set that up…"
"I can run you through the procedure, but we've got to hurry. First, everyone lie down. Make sure you are under water." Anny lowered herself down until she was lying on her back. There was about a meter of water over her. Her men did the same. "Okay, now call up your master menus." A command screen appeared on her heads-up display. "Hit 'command sequence', the little box on the lower right. Then hit 'special instructions'…" She ran them through the sequence, step by step. She was so glad she'd studied the armor so thoroughly! "Set the timer for 60 minutes. Everyone got that?" While her troops were acknowledging, she set her own timer for 55 minutes.
"Lieutenant?" said Kay. "If this don't work, we're gonna be fish in a barrel. We won't even be able to fight back!"
"But if it does work, we'll give them the surprise of their lives, eh, Sergeant?"
"But…"
"These are my orders, Sergeant."
"Yes, sir." Kay didn't sound happy.
"Com'on, Sarge," said Private Kerbeck, "It'll be fun."
"You just want to sleep for an hour," said Private Soblinski.
"Cut the chatter," commanded Anny. "All right, on my mark, hit the 'execute' button. It will probably get a bit cold in your suits after a while, but we'll be fine. And don't worry about being stuck here, if the medical monitors detect any problems, the suit will start up automatically. All right, everyone get ready. On my mark, three, two, one… execute!"
Anny did not hit the execute command in her own suit immediately. She waited to make sure all her troopers had done so. She called up her platoon status display and saw all her troopers changing from 'active' to 'inactive'. A couple of them hesitated, but after thirty seconds, they were all inactive. Anny took a breath and then hit the 'execute' key for her own armor.
[Commencing shutdown…]
Her display went blank except for that message. After a few moments, the mechanical 'muscles' of her suit locked and she couldn't move. The status lights in her helmet winked out and she was in blackness except for a tiny green message in one corner:
[Restart in: 54:47]
She suspected this was going to be the longest fifty-five minutes of her life.
[Scene Break]
Being dead wasn't so bad, reflected Alby Vorsworth. No duty, no responsibilities, just hang around and watch the show.
But he suspected that the final act was fast approaching in this show. He looked at the big holo-display that Colonel Fetherbay's HQ people had set up in a small cave they'd found. The 61st was being squeezed into a pocket. If he was reading the fast-changing display correctly, then the regiment had about 500 troopers left in action. The enemy had a lot more and they were closing in. Their five remaining heavy tanks were sweeping around the flanks to close the pocket and cut off any retreat. The big machines were able to move a lot faster now that they were out of the rough terrain to the south. Of course, the things could actually fly on their anti-gravs if they wanted to, but that would expose their thin belly armor and no sane tank jockey would ever do that in a combat zone.
The enemy infantry were forming the other sides of the pocket. The lightly equipped troops of the 139th couldn't beat assault troopers in a stand-up fight, but any time the 61st tried to go after them, the enemy artillery came crashing down and broke them up. With the regiment's heavy weapons and air defense gone and no orbital fire support to blast the enemy guns, they'd been free to wreck havoc. They'd probably lost more men to the artillery than to the tanks.
The artillery had gotten Alby, too.
In the first few minutes of the enemy attack, a barrage had swept across the HQ. It hadn't done much to the men in battle armor, but Alby was marked as a casualty almost immediately. The Colonel had given him permission to tag along and watch as long as he didn't break the rules by doing anything useful. Alby had been perfectly happy to oblige.
"Where's the rest of C Company?" demanded Fetherbay suddenly.
"I don't know," replied his chief of staff. "Most of them were lost taking out that tank…"
"But there were still at least a platoon left a few minutes ago. In sector G-19." The Colonel pointed at the display. "They're gone now." Alby studied the display. The rules of the exercise made the sensor readings sporadic for both sides so the information on the display was never complete or entirely accurate.
"Maybe the artillery got them…"
"All of them? They got the order to fall back, didn't they?"
"I think so, sir."
"Damn…" But then another officer called to the Colonel, reporting some new emergency and he moved to deal with it. Alby continued to stare at the display. C Company, eh? The last status update Alby had seen had Anny as the senior surviving officer.
What are you up to, girl?
[Scene Break]
[Restart in: 00:03… 00:02… 00:01… Commencing Restart]
Anny sighed in relief as her battle armor came to life again. It had indeed been a very long fifty-five minutes. At first it had gotten warm in her suit as the cooling system shut down, but then it had gotten colder and colder as the water sucked away the heat. She was shivering now. And she kept telling herself that it was just her imagination that the air was getting stuffy… But the physical discomfort was nothing compared to her anxiety about the risky plan she had adopted. She had been assuming that the enemy had lost track of them in the rough hills and that they would assume their sudden disappearance from the sensor displays was due to the continual jamming and countermeasures that had been going on since the exercise started. They were reservists, it was exciting, there was so much to keep track of, they wouldn't notice one missing platoon.
It was a big assumption.
If the enemy had a really sharp sensor officer or if someone had a solid fix on them when they powered down or if the pursuing infantry had been closer than she'd thought… Well, they were dead. Granted, this was just an exercise and they wouldn't really be dead, but it would be humiliating and embarrassing and she really didn't want it to end that way.
But as her armor finished its start-up there was no indication that she'd been killed. According to her status display she was still alive and fully functional. It had worked!
She slowly sat up until her helmet was just above the water and activated the suit's external cameras. She couldn't see much because of the waterfall so she crawled forward until she was out of the spray. She looked around.
No one.
She switched to the IR display. She didn't dare use active sensors, but nothing showed up on the passive infra-red, either. No enemy in sight.
She activated her tactical display and waited while it downloaded the latest update that HQ was broadcasting via satellite to all the 61st. She was dismayed to see how few friendly forces remained. A small island of blue floated in a red sea. Well, it was more of a peninsula than an island. There was still a narrow open zone leading north, but the enemy armor was moving to close the trap. The Regiment didn't have much time left. But that sea of red was all north of her now. The enemy had gone on past and not noticed them!
As she studied the details, the rest of her platoon began their own restarts. A few minutes later they were all crouched next to her in the water. "Everyone okay?' she asked.
"Freezing my ass… uh, okay, Lieutenant."
"I don't ever want to do that again! Sir."
"Afraid of the dark, Wasinski?"
"Cut the chatter!" snapped Kay. "What now, sir?"
"Look at the situation," she replied. Kay tied into her display. "The Regiment is trapped here. The enemy artillery is here, and we are right… here."
"Right behind them!" exclaimed Kay.
"Yup, they're less than a klick to the north of us."
"Let's take 'em, sir!" cried Private Kerbeck.
"I intend to. But based on this deployment, where would you guess the enemy headquarters would be?"
"Uh… not sure, sir," said Kay. "Probably close to the guns…"
"Yes, based on these sensor readings—see the high com traffic?—I would place them right about there."
"Oh ho!" said Kerbeck. "The General is gonna shit himself!"
"Kerbeck!" snapped Kay.
"Sorry…"
"All right, attention," said Anny. "Sergeant Kay, you will take 2nd Squad and half the weapons squad and attack these guns here," she marked a spot on the display. "Sergeant Rollins, you will take 3rd Squad and the rest of weapons and hit the guns over here. Take them out! That is your objective: knock out the enemy guns! Everything else is secondary. I will take 1st Squad and hit the enemy HQ. Once the enemy artillery is silenced, we'll all converge on the HQ and I'll have new orders for you then. Understand?"
"Yes sir!"
"All right. Com silence unless you're spotted, no active sensors, and keep your fool heads down! Move into position and wait for my order to attack. Let's move out!"
They emerged from the water like some primeval pack of dinosaurs. Carnivores. Their prey was just ahead.
They moved down the rock slopes, through the trees and underbrush quickly but carefully. Kay and Rollins veered off to the right and left and were soon lost to sight. Their battle armor had smart-paint and it automatically adjusted its color to match the surroundings. Despite their size, they were hard to see. Of course they would be showing up on sensors now—if anyone was bothering to look. They probably only had a few minutes before someone noticed those energy emissions where they shouldn't be any, but with luck they'd only need a few minutes.
Anny and her troopers reached the bottom of a slope. There was a level spot ahead and a clearing in the trees and she carefully moved up to the edge of the brush. In the clearing were a cluster of vehicles that had to be the brigade HQ. Troops with the unmistakable look of staff officers were bustling about. There was one larger lift-van that looked like a command vehicle. It had antennas on its roof and its wide doors were standing open.
She checked the time. Kay and Rollins had farther to go. She'd give them another minute or two. While she waited, she aimed a directional microphone at the big van.
"…looks like we've got them, General," said a fuzzy voice.
"Yes, Colonel, just a matter of mopping up now," said another.
"What are the tanks going to do once they close the circle, sir?"
"I haven't given them orders yet, but I plan to have them start pushing south toward us. We'll squeeze the enemy tighter and tighter. After a bit I'll let Fetherbay surrender."
"He's not going to be happy, sir."
"Oh, let him stew! Do him good. These assault troopers think they're the lords of creation. It'll be a good lesson for everyone that they aren't invincible."
"Yes sir."
Anny had heard enough. She switched to the platoon circuit. "Ready?"
"Ready," said Rollins.
"In position," said Kay.
"All right! Third Platoon, hit 'em! Go! Go! Go!"
Anny surged through the underbrush and charged toward the command vehicle. Her men started blasting everything in sight. She switched on her active sensors and saw her small band of blue dots moving into a cloud of at least a hundred red ones. But her men were in armor and heavily armed and the enemy were not. There would be a platoon of infantry for security, but they wouldn't have a chance. Red dots blinked out faster than she could count and by the time she reached the van there were only a few enemy left. She still had the microphone on and cries of alarm were coming from the vehicle.
"General! Major Cushing reports his guns are under attack by enemy infantry!"
"Sir! I'm picking up unknown forces…"
"What the hell…?"
"Look out!"
"Sir! Enemy troops are…"
She burst into the van and couldn't resist. "Right here."
A dozen men, including General Vorsilva, were staring at her wide-eyed. Colonel Downes of the 139th was there, too. She stepped forward. "General, you are my prisoner," she said, her external speaker booming out.
"Who the hell are you?" roared Vorsilva. "Joegen! Order some troops to…"
"Sorry, sir," said Anny, raising her weapon. "Please stand down or I'll have to shoot you."
"Joegen! Do as I say!"
Anny sighed and activated her plasma arc and sprayed it across the general and his men. If this had been real the sun-hot beam would have fried flesh and equipment to ashes. Here, all it did was tell the master computer that the men were now casualties. The officer Vorsilva had been shouting at raised his hands helplessly from his com station.
"Sorry, sir, the com won't respond. I'm dead."
"God damn it!" snarled Vorsilva. He turned on her. "Who are you, soldier?"
"Excuse me just a moment, sir," said Anny. She switched off the external speakers and called Kay and Rollins. "Report your status."
"Blastin' 'em down, sir!" cried Kay.
"Weak resistance," said Rollins. "We'll have all the guns knocked out in another minute, sir."
"Good work. Get it done and get back here." She switched to the Regimental HQ circuit. "Payne to Colonel Fetherbay! Priority! Please respond!"
[Scene Break]
Alby was trying to see if a dead man could get a cup of coffee when one of the sensor officers cried out. "Sir! Colonel! The enemy artillery has stopped firing! And I'm reading friendlies near their position!"
Every eye turned to the tactical display and sure enough there were some blue dots near the enemy artillery positions.
"What the hell?" said Fetherbay. "Who are they?"
"Not sure, sir… wait! Incoming message!"
"Payne to Colonel Fetherbay! Priority! Please Respond!" A familiar voice came from a speaker and Alby found himself grinning ear to ear.
"Payne, what's going on?" demanded Fetherbay.
"Sir! We've knocked out the enemy guns! And I've captured General Vorsilva! Well, killed him, I'm afraid, sorry about that. The enemy tanks have no orders, sir! If you hit the infantry line now…"
"I'm on it, Lieutenant! Stay where you are! We're coming to you!" Fetherbay began snapping out orders to his remaining commanders and then ordered his staff to pack up their gear and get ready to move—south.
Fetherbay caught sight of Alby and grinned through his open helmet. "Your friend may have saved our bacon."
"She has a knack for doing that, sir," answered Alby.
[Scene Break]
"… Stay where you are! We're coming to you!"
"Yes sir! We'll secure this position and provide what covering fire we can. Payne out."
"I asked you a question, soldier!" General Vorsilva was still talking to her.
"He looks kinda pissed," said Private Kerbeck. Anny quickly looked to make sure that was on the secure circuit. She activated the external speaker again. "Lieutenant Payne, sir, C Company."
"Open your damn helmet when you're talking to me!"
Anny flipped up her visor and the General blinked in surprise. "You!"
"Uh, yes, sir, Andreanne Payne, C Company."
"How'd you get here? What sort of trick did you pull?"
"We just took cover and let your forces pass us by, sir. Then we followed and attacked."
"Bullshit! There's no way we could have missed seeing you!"
"Sorry, sir, but that's what we did."
"I don't believe you! This is some damn cheat by Fetherbay! But I'll get to the bottom of it! Joegen! Call General Uhlrich! Use the emergency circuit!"
Anny started edging backwards. "I have to go, sir, I have my orders."
"Stay right where you are, damn it!"
"Sorry, sir, as long as the exercise is running I don't take orders from enemy officers. And anyway, you're dead, sir." She flipped down her visor and left the van.
She heard the general shouting after her, but she didn't stop. "Yeah, I think he was pissed," said Kerbeck.
Anny tried to put that out of her mind. Rollins and Kay were just approaching with their troops. "Casualties?" she asked.
"Not a one, sir!" said Kay. "They never knew what hit them!"
"Good. Now listen up. What's left of the Regiment will be punching through the 139th and coming right through here. We need to clean out any remaining resistance and make sure they have a clear path. Those tanks will probably be right on their tails so there can't be any delay. I imagine the Colonel will be ordering us to disperse into the hills, but be ready for anything. All right, let's move."
She spread her troops out in a long line just south of where the enemy artillery had been. They took out a few scattered enemy troops but the opposition appeared confused. Once she had her line set, she could just stand there and watch the show on her tactical display.
It was beautiful.
With hardly any delay, the 61st charged out of their perimeter and slashed through the leaderless troops of the 139th. Their tanks were off to the north, their artillery was silent and their commanders were dead. 'Hot knife through butter' seemed a particularly apt expression just then. The assault troopers in their battle armor overran the unarmored infantry in a matter of minutes. A few companies, the ones trailing behind the tanks, were spared, but the rest of the 139th was routed.
Once through the line, the 61st bounded south as fast as their suits would carry them. The enemy tanks, after milling about in confusion for critical minutes, began their pursuit, but couldn't catch up. Thirty minutes after Anny had so rudely interrupted General Vorsilva, Colonel Fetherbay bounced up to her, raised his visor, and shook her hand.
"Well done, Lieutenant!" he said with a smile. "I'd ask you how you did it, but we don't have time for that now. We'll talk later. Now, if you'll cover our retreat—excuse me, our advance in another direction—we'll get the hell out of here!"
"My pleasure, sir."
[Scene Break]
Officially they had still lost.
But nobody in the 61st cared.
Jer Naddel watched the celebrating officers of the Regiment, leaned back in his chair and smiled. The Regimental Mess had never seemed so lively as it did tonight. Jer had heard that General Vorsilva had lodged a protest against Anny's surprise move, but that he'd been overruled. There was nothing illegal about what Anny had done and the results would stand. The official results stated that the defending forces, the 25th Brigade, had successfully defeated the enemy landing force, overrun the landing zone, and stopped the invasion and thus won the exercise. But with the only effective combat unit left to the 25th being the five surviving tanks of the 283rd, you'd never convince anyone in the 61st that they'd lost. True, they'd lost almost 70% of their troops, but they were still an organized combat force. They hadn't been wiped out and they hadn't been forced to surrender.
Thanks to Anny.
There she was, up by Fetherbay's table, being toasted again. Men were crowded around her with raised glasses and jubilant faces. This had been going on for an hour or more. He'd scarcely had a chance to talk to her all evening, but he didn't mind. This was her night. She'd earned it and he was so damn proud of her. If there had been any doubters in the Regiment, they were all gone now. Well, almost all gone. There was Vorkerkas glowering in a corner. But he was alone. Good.
"Wow! What a party!" exclaimed Alby, as he plopped into a seat next to Jer. "Looks like this could go on all night!"
"I think it's supposed to," replied Jer. He nearly had to shout to make himself heard. "Fetherbay has cancelled all duty for tomorrow. We'll need a day to sober up after this!"
"Good! I think I shall get even drunker than I am!"
Jer laughed. "I may get a bit potted myself. But what was it like at Regimental HQ during the battle? I could sort of follow along by watching the tactical display after I'd been killed, but you must have had a real good look."
"Oh yeah! It was quite a show. But I've got to hand it to Fetherbay, he's one cool customer. Even after it was obvious that we'd been set up to lose, he never got angry or lost control. And oh, man, when we got the call from Anny telling us that she'd bagged the enemy guns and Vorsilva! Fetherbay didn't waste a second. We were off and moving within a few minutes. Glad I still had my skimmer or I never would have kept up."
"I like the Colonel."
"Yeah, me, too. I wouldn't mind working for him once I'm done with this bloody simulator project."
"Regimental staff?"
"Why not? I think I'd be good there. Hell, the next time something like this happens I'll just hack into the main tactical computer and add the home fleet and the Guards Division to our side!"
"Wouldn't Vorsilva love that! Whoops! Speak of the devil!" Jer sat up. General Vorsilva and Colonel Downes had just entered the Mess. There was another high ranking officer with them. The noise level dropped as more and more people noticed them. "Who's that with Vorsilva?"
"Must be General Uhlrich: he was the chief observer for the exercise."
The crowd parted before the trio and they moved toward the head table. Jer saw Anny try to fade into the background, but Fetherbay led her forward to meet the generals. "General Uhlrich, General Vorsilva, Colonel Downes, welcome to the 61st's Mess," he said.
"Good to see you again, Tony!" boomed Uhlrich, who was a tall, barrel-chested man. He looked around at the celebrating officers and grinned. "Didn't anyone tell you you'd lost the exercise?"
"We received a communication to that effect, sir, but it was clearly a mistake," replied Fetherbay. "I'm expecting a correction any time."
Uhlrich laughed. "Yes, things didn't turn out quite how we'd planned!" He swung his gaze around to take in most of the assembled officers. "As I'm sure you figured out pretty quickly, the exercise was deliberately set up to be very unbalanced. Battles rarely go according to plan, gentlemen. The intention was give the 61st an overdose of battlefield 'friction' while at the same time giving the rest of your brigade an example of how to contain and wipe out a hostile landing."
"Yes, sir," said Fetherbay.
"Ah, and here's the one who screwed it all up!" cried Uhlrich, catching sight of Anny.
"Yes, General, let me introduce Lieutenant Payne," said Fetherbay.
"Good to meet you, sir," said Anny, shaking hands.
"And I you, Lieutenant! And I you! That was damn sneaky of you! But well done! Very well done!"
"Thank you, sir. Sorry if I messed up your plans."
"Oh, don't be! Friction works both ways, after all! And I think some valuable lessons were learned on both sides. Don't you, General?" Uhlrich looked to Vorsilva, who hadn't cracked a smile the whole time.
"Of course, sir," said Vorsilva. "But I have a question for the Lieutenant."
"Sir?" said Anny.
"Yes, I just wanted know that if this has been real would you still have done it? Some might consider what you did extremely reckless. If it hadn't worked—if you hadn't been lucky—you and your whole platoon would have been killed or captured without the chance to fire a shot. Anyone can be brave and daring when there's no real danger. But if it had been real, would you have done this?"
The noise level in the Mess fell to almost nothing. Anny's face was dead neutral, but Jer knew her well enough to be sure that there was some anger below the surface. Vorsilva was trying to belittle her accomplishment, even make it look like a mistake rather than smart move!
"Well, Lieutenant?"
"Given an identical tactical situation, sir," said Anny, "then yes, sir, I think I would."
"Really?" Vorsilva sounded skeptical. "You'd throw away all the men under your command?"
"Sir, as I read the situation, my platoon was in a hopeless situation anyway. We had become separated from the rest of the regiment and the only other line of withdrawal would have exposed us to so much enemy fire I doubted more than a handful of us would have survived. And we wouldn't have done any corresponding damage to the enemy. I knew my plan was risky, but it seemed the best chance to keep my men alive—and hurt the enemy at the same time."
"And so it turned out!" said General Uhlrich loudly. He slapped Vorsilva on the back and then Anny, too. "Fortune favors the bold, eh? But my glass seems to be empty—hell, I don't even have a glass! Can someone correct that?" In an eyeblink, someone had supplied Uhlrich with a full glass. He held it up. "Gentlemen! To good fortune and bold, young officers!"
"Hear, hear!"
Everyone joined in the toast and the celebration started again. With the generals distracting Fetherbay, Anny managed to escape and make her way back to Jer. "Whew!" she said dramatically, wiping imaginary sweat from her brow. "Never thought I'd get away!"
"Well, relax and have a drink!" said Alby. "You've earned it." He snagged a glass from a passing steward and handed it to her.
"Thanks. Wow, I hope I haven't pissed off Vorsilva too much."
"Oh, I'm sure he'll get over it," said Jer. "You're part of his brigade, after all. Once he's had a chance to think, he'll be glad to have you."
"I hope so."
"Yeah, me, too," said Alby, looking far too serious for the occasion.
"Now what?"
"Well, I looked up Vorsilva's record. It seems that when he was at the Academy he tried to get into the assault troops—and didn't make it. Maybe he's got a grudge against them."
"He did seem awfully satisfied about the exercise—just before I captured him," said Anny.
"Well, don't worry about it. Fetherbay—and most everyone else around here—couldn't be happier," said Jer. "They're the ones you have to deal with everyday. Don't worry about Vorsilva."
"He's probably right," said Alby. "So drink up! Let's enjoy ourselves!"
And so they did. After a while, the band started playing and an area was cleared in the gymnasium and the officers who had wives or girlfriends started dancing. Getting up his nerve, Jer asked Anny to dance. She hesitated at first, but eventually gave in. They hadn't danced since the formal ball in their senior year at the Academy. It had been kind of awkward at first, and it felt the same way here. Pretty much everyone had stopped to stare at the two uniformed officers dancing with each other. But then Anny grinned at him and he grinned back. Hell, let them stare! After that, they relaxed and it was a lot of fun. Later, Alby asked Anny to dance and she agreed and that opened the floodgates. It seemed like everyone wanted to dance with Anny. Well, almost everyone. But she reserved enough dances for Jer that he didn't feel neglected.
"That is one hell of a woman you've got there, Naddel," said Sven Estaban, after he'd had his dance.
"You're right about that," he replied in satisfaction.
"One hell of a woman."
[Scene Break]
Someone was pounding on the door and every thump seemed to be transmitted directly to Anny's brain. Crap. What time was it? How much had she had to drink? Where the hell was she? She heard Jer groan and felt him move and then she remembered that she'd spent the night with him. Or as much of the night as was left after they'd left the Mess. The stairs up to her room had seemed far too daunting in her condition so she'd accepted Jer's offer to stay in his room. She couldn't even remember if they'd made love so she must have really been smashed.
"Lieutenant Payne, are you in there?" A voice came through the door.
"Wha?" she mumbled. "Yeah… Whozzat?"
"Uh, Corporal Fletcher, sir. From brigade headquarters. I've got orders to bring you up there. I've been looking all over for you, sir."
"What the hell for?' growled Jer.
"Damn, damn…Damn!" Anny tried to roll out of the bed, got her legs tangled in the sheets, and fell flat on her face. "Ow!"
"You okay?"
"Yeah, yeah…" She staggered up and headed for the door, realized she wasn't wearing anything except a t-shirt and stopped to try and sort out her clothes from Jer's scattered on the floor. Jer tottered past her to the door, opened it a crack and looked out.
"Yeah? What is it?"
"Uh… I need to bring Lieutenant Payne to HQ, sir. They've been comming her and she hasn't answered."
"Oh, right. You got a vehicle?"
"Parked outside, sir."
"Wait there, she'll be out in ten minutes."
"They want her right away."
"Ten minutes or you'll have to take her there naked, Corporal."
"Oh, okay, I'll wait."
Jer shut the door and turned. "Use the shower here. I'll take your key and get you a fresh set of greens."
"Great. Thanks, love." She wove her way into the bathroom and turned on the shower and let it splash all over her. She scrubbed herself, washed her hair, and then turned the temperature to as cold as she could stand, shocking herself awake. By the time she emerged Jer was back with her uniform and—bless the man—a cup of coffee and a painkiller.
"What do you suppose this is about?" asked Jer as she dressed.
"No clue. But I doubt that it's good news."
"Pessimist."
"Always."
She gulped down the last of the coffee, put on her cap and went out the door. "Later."
The corporal was sitting in the utility vehicle and Anny took the seat next to him. "How long have they been looking for me?"
"About forty minutes, sir," he replied as he pressed the accelerator.
"Sorry, I was unconscious."
"Yes sir."
"Who, exactly is looking for me?"
"Captain Vordranov, sir."
Anny frowned. That was Vorsilva's chief of staff… "Why is he looking for me?"
"No idea, sir."
Great.
They arrived at the HQ building, which was considerably larger than the regimental HQ. Anny had only ever been here once before on an errand for Vorstang. She got out of the vehicle and went up the steps to the front door. The 61st might have the day off, but it was business as usual at Brigade. She went inside and asked how to find Captain Vordranov's office. She got there and then had to wait twenty minutes before he would see her. Finally she was let in. She came to attention and saluted. "Lieutenant Payne, reporting as ordered."
"You're late," growled Vordranov, a harried-looking officer of middle years.
"Sorry, sir." She knew it was no use to make excuses.
Vordranov searched through the flimsies on his desk, found one and thrust it at her. "Payne, you are being detached from the 61st and assigned here."
"What?" she gasped.
"You heard me. You'll be the acting S-9 officer. Watkins!" Vordranov shouted the last bit so suddenly Anny flinched. Detached…? An enlisted man who looked even more harried than Vordranov popped into the office.
"Sir?"
"Take Payne down to the S-9 office. She's taking over there."
"Yes sir. Lieutenant? If you'd follow me?" In a daze, Anny followed the man into the corridor. S-9? What the hell is S-9?
S-1 was Personnel & Administration… S-2 Intelligence/Security… S-3 Operations… S-4 Logistics… As she went down the hallway she saw the labeled office doors. So she was being assigned to the brigade staff? She was losing her platoon? For how long? Why? And what was S-9?
S-7 Training… S-8 Finance/Payroll… They reached the end of the hallway and she looked at the door.
"Public Relation!?" she exclaimed.
"Yes sir," said Watkins. "S-9, Public Relations."