Warriors For The Working Day
Chapter Eleven
By
(UCSBdad)
Disclaimer: Stolen about equally from the Henson Co., David Drake and a bit from George MacDonald Fraser. Shakespeare is in the public domain, I hope. In any case, no money changes hands here. Rating: T due to language. Time: Some twenty-five plus years after Peacekeeper Wars.
Arsenal appeared to be a standard planet habitable by anthropoids. Roughly three parts ocean to one part land, standard atmosphere and gravity with one large moon. Closer inspection showed a further even dozen small, rocky moons. Their orbits were so precise that I had to assume they were asteroids moved to orbit the planet as part of its defenses.
Also in orbit were many hundreds of starships. Those in the highest orbits were clearly warships with auxiliaries and merchant ships below them.
Further out from the planet, in no order that I could see were further groups of ships that must total at least a thousand.
Kathleen leaned over to whisper in my ear. "Our ships are in orbit around Arsenal. And the good news is that Admiral Cunningham is here with the rest of our warships. The other ships scattered around the solar system belong to other mercenary units. The fact that they're keeping their distance means they haven't decided to join us, much less trust us."
"Is there going to be a battle?"
Kathleen shook her head. "Most of the other's ships are not warships. We have more and more powerful warships than any one of our visitors, although if they all ganged up on us we'd be in trouble. But, speaking as an intelligence officer, a good fraction of those groups will join us. The majority, however, will head out and see what kind of a nuisance they can make of themselves."
We were interrupted. "Vice-Marshall? The Marshall is on the horn. He wants to talk to you."
Aida stood and nodded to the officer. "I'll take it in my office. Kathleen, Rudy, Aeryn, please join me."
A full sized holo of Marshall O'Donnell was being projected by the time we got to Aida's office.
"Good to see you, Aida." He said.
When I'd last seen O'Donnell over twenty cycles ago, he'd been a tall and rather skinny human with red hair and blue eyes. He had filled out since then and very little of it looked like fat. His hair had just a few strands of grey in it and he was smiling with his eyes and his mouth. He wasn't wearing the green and tan uniform I was used to, but a dark blue dress uniform trimmed in red. Across his chest was a multicolored sash.
Aida returned his smile. "I've missed you, Eddie." She waited a micron and then got down to business. "Who are our new neighbors and when did they get here? And why all at once?"
"Oh, the usual suspects are here. They've been here for about four days now. The Good and the Great over on the other side got tired of a whole horde of mercenaries hanging around K'hiff, trying to decide whether to leave their home universe for this one. Everybody was told to either go through the Anomaly or be disbanded. By force if need be."
"And they did?"
O'Donnell nodded. "Most did. Some didn't. The ones who stayed aren't anyone we'll miss. The ones who didn't stop here are the problems."
"They are?" Aida asked.
O'Donnell reeled off a list of names of ships and units that meant nothing to me.
Kathleen whispered in my ear again. "Real bottom feeders, Aeryn. Pirates and raiders, one and all. When they come to the attention of the powers that be over here, they are going to give everybody a very bad idea of what humans are like. All the more reason for us to introduce ourselves politely to everyone else here."
"So what's happening now?" That was Aida.
"Ah!" Replied Eddie. "We've been running a three day dog and pony show to try to show everyone why they should join Human Forces Command. Tonight we're having a little party to let everyone digest what they've seen, talk to other unit commanders, and hopefully join us."
"Do you need a date for this party, soldier?" Aida said in a husky voice.
"Do I ever. Get into your dress blues, my love, and come to my party. Rudy needs to be here, of course, as well as Kath. And bring Aeryn along."
The holo faded and my three friends went off to change. I was still officially Lt. Col. Claudine de Castries, but there was no time to find me a dress uniform. No problem. I wasn't a party person, at least without John.
In an arn we landed at a large military spaceport. Waiting for us were a dozen or so armored vehicles from O'Donnell's Guard Regiment.
"Expecting trouble?" I asked Rudy, who was nearest to me.
"No." He replied. "But, if you're always expecting trouble, you're never surprised."
Over the objections of the escort commander, Aida took command of one of the tanks and placed me next to her in the gunner's seat.
"Relax, Captain." She had said. "I we get ambushed and wiped out on our own damned planet, I won't blame you. But we've been on a ship for about forever and I want some fresh air."
Aida popped the hatches on the vehicle and we sat with our heads sticking out in the afternoon air. We rose on cushions of air and headed down a highway. Aida commented on what we passed, more for herself than for me, I thought.
We passed a column of armored vehicles heading the other way. "Yorkists! Well, some one joined us. The White Rose Division." She said, nodding vaguely to me. "Some division, with just five over strength battalions, but good soldiers."
The second column was open blower trucks crammed with shabbily dressed men and women, clutching an assortment of hand tools. "One of our Pioneer units. Christ! They look like they're half starved. They'd better have just got here or someone's ass is going to get chewed."
As if in response, one of the women suddenly shouted, "The Vice-Marshall, God bless her!" The truck column erupted in cheers and waves.
A voice spoke in our headphones. "Political prisoners from Sibir, Ma'am. The bastards have been sending them here by the shipload. Arsenal is one hell of a lot better than where they were."
After the trucks passed, the road ran through a huge field of something called wheat. Massive automated reapers were starting to cut it.
After that we reached a military cantonment. This was more like it. It brought back the days of my youth. Row upon row of drab, rectangular and utilitarian buildings. Long lines of vehicles were interspersed with bodies of marching troops.
Aida pointed out our destination. It was decidedly not drab or utilitarian. It was a massive shining marble building that dominated the hilltop it sat on. When I could see some people for perspective, I decided it was at least a metra to a side and perhaps six or eight stories high.
"Rudy's pride and joy." Aida said with a smile. "Our real headquarters is buried under a mountain."
We pulled into an underground garage to be greeted by a host of uniformed flunkies who seemed to work for Rudy. They vacuumed dust from our uniforms, buffed our shoes and probably would have insisted on giving us a bath if Aida hadn't stopped them.
"Enough! You people do not ever want to stand between a Sebacean warrior and her man!" She growled.
We walked past two armed and armored troopers and into an elevator. At the top Edward Burke O'Donnell was waiting for us.
He took two quick steps forward, put his arms around Aida and lifted her off the ground while kissing her. After twenty or so microns he put her down.
"Dammit all, lady, but it's good to have you back." He muttered into her hair.
"Good to be back. And good to know I'm missed."
"Now don't tell me you didn't know that." He teased.
His eyes lit on Kathleen and he gave her a hug and a brief kiss. "The family's all here, now."
Still with an arm around Aida, he shook Rudy's hand. "Good to have you back, old friend. You've been busy I see."
Rudy nodded. "I'll be busy tonight from the look of things."
Eddie took another step forward, put both hands on his hips and looked me up and down. "Aeryn Sun. Now Aeryn Sun Crichton, I believe. God you haven't aged a day."
"Perhaps a day." I said with a smile. "These last couple of monens have aged me, I'm afraid.
Eddie laughed. "Don't worry, Aeryn. We'll have you back with John in no time. I owe my family to you two, you know."
Rudy cleared his throat. "She's Lt. Col. Claudine de Castries for now. We shouldn't allow her to get out of character. And what's the party all about?"
Eddie led us to the edge of the balcony we were on. Below us was an enormous room. It took up fully a third of the building we were in. The walls and ceiling were open to the outside and I could see the sun getting lower in the sky. Scattered around the floor were tables where food and drink were available. Each table seemed to have a group clustered around it, with people occasionally moving from one group to another. At one end of the room, a uniformed band played softly.
Eddie explained. "The commanders of the various units that are in orbit around Arsenal are here with their staffs. Everyone wants to make the best deal they can with me. Well, some of them feel that way. Most of them won't be staying here, though. I'm trying to get a few of the better units to stick with me."
Rudy nodded. "I think I see where I can be of use to you. If you'll excuse me?"
Without waiting for a reply, Rudy Walked down a flight of steps and onto the polished wooden floor and straight to one of the groups.
"Shall we, my dear?" Eddie said, offering his arm to Aida.
I followed Eddie, Aida and Kathleen down the stairs and stopped behind them. All eyes had turned to the two of them.
"I say, old boy! You haven't become a Muslim have you?" Drawled a voice from behind us.
The speaker was a tall, well built man. He had high cheekbones, hazel eyes and a well trimmed mustache. If he was little out of the ordinary, his uniform was not. He wore a peach colored double breasted coat that ended slightly above the knees. Below that were tight white pants tucked into gleaming knee high boots. Across his chest was a jewel encrusted sash. His shoulder boards were also bejeweled. If human mercenaries disdained medals, this one hadn't heard of it. His chest was covered with medals, most of which seemed to be made of precious metals and also jeweled. A long length of cloth, which I learned was called a turban, was wrapped around his head. It was held in place by a clasp holding a blood red jewel that probably could have been traded for a fairly rich planet.
His officers, arrayed behind him, were dressed in all of the colors of the rainbow and had only slightly less in the way of jewels present.
"Not a bit, Ranjit. Why do you ask?" Eddie replied quietly.
Ranjit smiled. "You seem to have acquired another beautiful Sebacean wife."
"Ah!" Eddie said with a smile. "This is Lt. Col. Claudine de Castries, an officer of my Guards."
Ranjit looked skeptical for just a microt, then the smile returned. "My apologies, Colonel de Castries. I have erred."
"Claudine," Aida interrupted, "may I introduce Lieutenant General Ranjit Singh. Ranjit, this is Claudine de Castries."
Ranjit bowed slightly and winked at me. "Delighted, Claudine."
I managed a reply. I did not like being flirted with.
"So what are you doing here, Ranjit?" Aida, seeing my displeasure changed the subject.
"I've come to offer my services, of course."
Eddie raised an eyebrow. "You don't have any "technical problems" that need to be worked out? No qualifications or loose ends. Not even a non-negotiable demand?"
Ranjit shook his head and waved airily at the assembled mercenaries. "The fools here think that because we have some slight technological advantages in this new universe, we'll all become the absolute monarchs of a planet or two. Bloody hell, the Hynerian Empire alone has over six hundred billion subjects. Can't the fools see how weak we are in comparison? We have to stick together or we'll be chewed up?"
"How many do you think realize this?" Eddie asked quietly.
"Too bloody few." Was the reply.
Eddie smiled. "So what do you bring us?"
Ranjit returned the smile. "Three standard armored divisions. Of course, being Sikhs we have a truly magnificent artillery group. Oh, and I've convinced Colonel Brusilov to come along with me."
A tall, round faced officer stepped forward and gave Eddy a slight bow.
"He has a lovely heavy tank regiment, you know. Over one hundred and eighty Skoda model 1019s. Plus we have engineer tanks, recovery vehicles, command and control tracks and even a company's worth of infantry carriers all based on the Skoda chassis."
Ranjit lowered his voice and his face became serious. "Speaking of infantry, old boy, you can never have enough, you know. I came across a prison planet on my way to K'hiff, don't you know. POWs, political prisoners, and common criminals all mixed together. Enough stayed with me so that I can recruit an additional armored infantry battalion for each of my divisions, and probably a couple of light infantry regiments. But I need equipment, you see."
Eddie nodded and exchanged a look with Aida. Then he nodded. "No problem. We can provide that easily enough. One thing, though."
Ranjit nodded. "I know, I know. The ships. You need to take mine away from me."
Aida reached out and put her hand on his arm. "We'll confirm all of your officers in their ranks, but we need our fleet to be unified. We can't divide it up in penny packets and scatter it around."
"I understand." Ranjit said, his smile coming back. "It's just that the old Sutlej has been my home for years."
"You have a new home, my friend." Eddie said.
Ranjit brightened. "Well, Rudy said he had some shrimp curry set aside for us, so I'll be off." With that he bowed deeply to Eddie and said, loudly enough to be heard all over the room, "Hail to you, my lord."
As I'm sure General Singh intended, the conversation in the room stopped at once and everyone stared at Eddie. Then the conversation resumed, louder than before, and officers started to move between groups like some sort of dance.
"I see Rudy has some one for us to see." Aida whispered.
Rudy was indeed leading a group of uniformed humans towards us. If General Singh and his officers were as gaudy as a male drannit in heat, this group was the opposite. They wore rough, drab brown uniforms with no insignia of any sort that I could see. Their hair was oddly cut, being shaved on top of the skull and long otherwise. Bushy beards covered their faces.
Their leader nodded to Eddie. "Good evening to you, Marshall O'Donnell, and to your family."
"And good evening to you, Brother Saul. Are you prepared to join us?" Eddie asked.
Brother Saul shook his head. "I, and the other Disciples, have prayed mightily over your offer, but we find we cannot accept it, in spite of Brother Rudy's passionate arguments. We are armed prophets whose mission is to spread the word of Our Lord throughout the Universe. We cannot subordinate ourselves to mere considerations of the flesh."
Eddie nodded glumly. "I see."
Well, having met human religious leaders myself, I wasn't the least unhappy that this group would be going their own way.
Rudy broke in with a large smile on his face. "While Brother Saul is not joining us, I believe we can be of assistance to him, as we discussed, Marshall O'Donnell."
"How can you aid us if we do not join you, Marshall?" asked Brother Saul.
"Brother Rudy has pointed out that we have a great deal of excess weaponry and equipment. As you know, the great powers opened their arsenals to us to induce us to leave. Now, all of our medium tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, self propelled artillery and such are from Henschel of Terra. Our other vehicles and light weaponry are by Fabrique Nationale of Friesland. Many of our units were equipped with other combat equipment before joining us. The use of the same weaponry simplifies our logistics to no end. But this other equipment now sits in our warehouses taking up space we could use for other purposes."
"I don't see how we could possibly afford…" Brother Saul began.
Rudy cut him off. "Even if we don't share all of your religious convictions, we have much the same goals. To find a home for ourselves in this new universe. A peaceful home, if we can make one."
"You told me you're headed for a Delvian colony, the Garden of Galil, currently being raided by renegade Charrids to offer your services. Nothing could please the Marshall more than for you to succeed in driving off these Charrids. But, while your veteran regiments have adequate, if rather light, armaments, and your recently recruited regiments are woefully equipped."
Brother Saul looked like he was going to say something, but Rudy kept right on talking. "We have a considerable holding of Tatra vehicles; tanks, carriers, artillery, and so on. They use artificial sapphire matrix armor, which is far more difficult to repair than the iridium armor our new vehicles use. Their weapons are based on high energy lasers rather than power guns. And, in spite of all of Tatra's propaganda, their artificial intelligences are nearly impossible to network with any other AIs."
"I believe we can release the following vehicles to you." Rudy said, handing Brother Saul a data flimsy.
Brother Saul's eyes bulged out when he read the list. Then he straightened up and stared hard at Rudy and Eddie. "What do you expect in return for this?"
"Just that you sign a standard Friendship Treaty with us." Rudy replied. "We'll agree to exchange liaison officers, who will rank as and be treated as ambassadors, exchange intelligence about common foes, and such. I gave you a copy of the treaty, I believe?"
"That's all?" Brother Saul said suspiciously.
Eddie nodded vigorously. "Your success will be good for us. Any Charrids you destroy will be ones we won't have to worry about. And, we brought merchant ships here, in addition to warships. We can't trade with a planet devastated by raiders, can we?"
Brother Saul was obviously weakening.
"I believe we can add further to your forces." Rudy said happily. "We have a spare division of cruisers and a flotilla of destroyers. They're Yarrow S.A. models, regrettably, but they should be useful if all you want to do is defend a planet."
"I don't quite understand. There's a problem with Yarrow's ships?" Brother Saul said, with a quizzical look.
One of his officers spoke up. "The Yarrows are notorious for being heavily armed and armored, but incredibly slow."
Eddie nodded. "They can only make half the speed of our own cruisers and destroyers. Even most of our merchantmen can outrun them."
Brother Saul turned and looked at his disciples, and there was no question about what they thought.
"This is most generous of you, Marshall. We shall include you in our prayers." Brother Saul was almost gushing.
Rudy put an arm around Brother Saul, something that was noticed by everyone in sight. "We can sign the treaty tomorrow. Perhaps you'd like to see your new acquisitions?"
Brother Saul nodded happily and Rudy gestured for a Human Forces Command officer to come over. In a microt, they had left us with Brother Saul babbling his thanks to Eddie the whole way out.
"Brother Rudy?" Aida asked with a smile.
"I was educated by the Orthodox Catholic Church. They insured that I also got religious instruction. I'm quite at home in theological disputations, in fact."
Kathleen shook her head. "We could get more than theological disputations when Brother Saul's ordinance officers learn just what a bitch it is to repair sapphire matrix armor, or when he tries to link his AIs to damn near anything. Not to mention having his warships outrun by planetary garbage scows."
Rudy had an answer for that. "Then he can remember that he wouldn't have hardly any armored vehicles at all but for us, nor any ships more powerful than a few clapped out old missile frigates."
Eddie put his arm around his daughter. "We both got something we needed, Kath. Brother Saul and his troops have a good chance of protecting that Delvian colony now. They didn't before. We got rid of vehicles and warships that were taking up scarce maintenance assets just to keep them ready in case we ever did need them."
"Suppose we do need them in the future?" I asked. Now that was odd. When had we become "we"?
Aida answered the spoken part of my question. "What we gave Brother Saul is only a small part of our holdings of weapons and ships. Plus we're developing an industrial base here on Arsenal. So, if we ever get to the point…"
Eddie put his hand on her arm. Another officer was approaching us. He was quite a beautiful young man, the effect being enhanced by his makeup. His blond curls were each identical and perfect. His perfect body was set off by a skin tight green and gold uniform.
"Marshall O'Donnell, His Highness desires your presence. If you will follow me, Sir." He said, giving Eddie a slight bow.
Eddie and Aida exchanged a look and then headed after the retreating back of the young officer. Kathleen and I, having nothing else to do, followed. Rudy, oddly enough, remained behind.
"His Highness is Prince Paul. Or Prince Palsy as Daddy refers to him." Kathleen whispered to me. "But not to his face." She quickly added.
I had been keeping an eye on the group we were led to. It was one of the larger groups at the party to begin with, but throughout the night it had steadily attracted more and more mercenaries. Now, it was unquestionably the largest group.
Their leader was a tall, slender man with a full head of black hair and a well trimmed beard set on a narrow face. Cold black eyes stared at us, although he did smile.
"My dear Marshall O'Donnell, we must cease this foolish competition." He said in a seemingly hearty manner.
Eddie shrugged. "Your Highness, I'm not competing with you. I'm merely trying to recruit a few like-minded commanders who wish to take a long view of our position here in this new universe."
Prince Paul waved that aside dismissively. "I'm afraid you've failed. As you can see, the majority of commanders have decided to follow me."
Eddie only nodded.
His Highness went on. "I intend to reestablish my dynasty. I was deposed by cowards and traitors who basely sold themselves to my enemies. Enemies who didn't have the courage to face me in open battle."
The Prince's voice was starting to rise. He stopped and visibly settled himself down. He again smiled at us. "We humans can be a powerful and united force, technologically more advanced than the people of this universe. Whoever we support automatically becomes the strongest party and we become the key to that alliance. You operated much the same in your younger years, did you not?"
Eddy nodded. "This is different, I'm afraid, Your Highness. Here we could face unified star nations of hundreds of billions of subjects. And our technological superiority will not last."
"It can last!" Prince Paul said sharply. "Think, Marshall! There are hundreds, no thousands, of separate planets out here that only lack a strong hand to weld them into an empire. You seek to build a base here on one planet with whatever riff-raff are not suitable for soldiers. We can take planets with industries already built and with populations on hand to run our new industries. With a careful choice of allies and subject peoples, we can maintain our power. But we must be united and face this new universe as one!"
Eddie sighed, ever so slightly. I don't think Prince Paul noticed. "As I have said, Your Highness, I follow a different path, as do my officers and troops."
Prince Paul grimaced. "My army is stronger than yours, and my fleet is nearly as strong. If you will not join me, I warn you, do not consider opposing me. I will rule again!"
Eddie bowed slightly. "Your army is more numerous than mine and your fleet less numerous. As to strength, I think I still have the advantage in both cases. And it is not my purpose in life to oppose Your Highness. I am merely an old soldier seeking a home."
Well, even I didn't quite believe that.
Eddie and Aida backed up a few paces and left Prince Paul fuming.
"That went better than I expected." Eddie said, once we were beyond earshot.
Aida nodded. "He has learned not to immediately execute everyone who disagrees with him. A pity, that. He'd be easier to deal with if he were still the same brainless hot head he was twenty years ago."
"Well, if he does grab an empire, Aida my love, he'll need a better secret police than he had back home. He'll never get by on his military talents as he has none."
We were interrupted by one of Eddie's officers.
"Excuse me, Marshall. We have news." She said quietly.
"Good or bad?" Eddie asked.
The officer grinned. "Both, of course."
Eddie laughed. "What is it then, Brechingac?"
"Commodore Harwood, commanding Force G in Exeter, 36, has arrived and asks to join us. He's escorting six transports carrying former POWs and political prisoners from Sibir. They also wish to join us."
Eddie stroked his lower lip, a gesture I found unsettling since it reminded me of John.
"Six ships full of prisoners will strain us. Where the hell will we house them? Aida, can we even feed them? We can, can't we?"
Brechingac cleared her throat. "The six ships are Jupiter class transports, sir."
"Good God!" Eddie said. "I assume that being from Sibir they're packed to the rafters with people?"
"Yes, sir." Brechingac replied.
Eddie turned to his wife. "We'll need your hand on this, my love. Coming from those bastards at Sibir, I'm sure these poor people are starved and sick. We could handle six regular transports with former prisoners, I suppose, but six Jupiters?"
Aida gave her husband a hug. "We have a good medical staff and the harvest has been good. We'll manage, love. We always do."
Aida hurried off with Brechignac. Eddie turned to us. "Kath, you're now my acting chief of staff, and Claudine, you are my new aide. For the evening, anyway, so don't put on airs. I doubt if much more will happen. Most of the rest of the commanders seem to be going over to offer their services to Prince Palsy."
"I think some may be having second thoughts." Kathleen said thoughtfully.
Sure enough, six officers had disentangled themselves from Prince Paul's entourage and were headed our way. Four wore a simple khaki uniform: pants with large cargo pockets on the thighs and jackets with four pockets. What appeared to be some sort of hats had been rolled up and tucked into various pockets. If they had any insignia, I didn't see it.
The other two were more formally dressed. One was short and squat, but looked to be muscular. He had on a very colorful raspberry colored jacket and was holding a billed hat of the same color.
The last was tall, quite skinny and dressed in a plain brown uniform with a wide brimmed hat.
The six came to a halt in front of us.
"Marshall O'Donnell," Said one of the khaki clad officers, "allow me to introduce myself. I am General de Brigade Jean Gilles. My officers are Colonel Langlais, Premiere Groupmente Aeroporte, Colonel Bigeard, Deuxieme Groupmente Aeroporte, and Colonel Trinquier, Groupe Mobile Cent. I also have the honor to be supported by General Drozdovsky and the Drozdovsky Shock Infantry Regiment, and Colonel Remington of Remington's Scouts."
General Gilles smiled at Eddie. "We were assured that Prince Paul would make every attempt to negotiate an alliance with you and Human Forces Command. When we saw he did not do so, but simply issued an ultimatum, we decided to offer you our services."
"Marshall O'Donnell, I can offer you the services of the finest light intervention division among the stars."
Eddie stared at the men for a few microts.
"The finest light intervention division among the stars?" he finally said, his voice quite low. "Bloody hell, gentlemen. Do you think I'm daft?"
"General Gilles, your GAPs are indeed fine light units with veteran officers and troops. But even when fully equipped, they're too bloody light. You have only a heavy mortar battery, and a small one at that, to support each GAP. You're short of engineers, signals units, transport, and bloody hell, what do you have for medical support? Your so called surgical companies have barely thirty-five people and two doctors. And, may I point out that's when you're fully manned and equipped, which you are not? And if you expect to survive for long in this new universe, you'll need more men and lots more equipment. And that'll have to come from me, won't it?"
He then turned on Colonel Trinquier. "Mobile Group you say? Mobile with what? You have half the transport that's needed and what you have is far too poorly armed and armored. Do you have any tanks left, sir? I ask you? And when last I heard, you had about half a field artillery battery to support your unit."
Colonel Trinquier said nothing. Eddy turned to General Drozdovsky. "The only shock in your regiment, sir, is the shock in finding it's filled with untrained raw recruits and lacking in all manner of weapons and equipment."
Lastly he turned to Colonel Remington, who visibly squirmed when Eddy looked at him. "A colonel, commanding a regiment of less than three hundred soldiers! Oh, you're good, all right. Your service on Minas Gerias proves that. But you can't scout for a division, even one as weak as this with what you have, colonel."
Four of the officers looked shocked. Strangely, Langlais was smiling. Bigeard merely looked glum.
Finally Gilles spoke. "If you do not desire our services, Marshall, I regret…"
Eddie interrupted. "I very much desire your services, gentlemen. But I desire an honest appraisal of your weaknesses as well as your strengths."
Gilles, Trinquier, Drozdovsky and Remington nodded. Interestingly, Bigeard was now grinning ever so slightly while Langlais' smile had widened.
"Do you find this amusing, Colonel Langlais?" Eddie suddenly asked.
"Mais, oui." Langlais replied. "Bruno here owes me fifty francs." He gestured to Colonel Bigeard. " I told him you were one smart, tough Anglo-Saxon son of a bitch and we wouldn't fool you one God damned bit."
Langlais held out his hand. Bigeard dug into a pocket and put a few bank notes into it.
"Quelle enmerdment!" Bigeard muttered.
Eddie laughed. "And that's one smart, tough Irish son of a bitch, Colonel Langlais."
Langlais shrugged. "Just another Goddam."
Rudy re-appeared from where ever he'd disappeared to. "Perhaps, gentlemen, you might wish to meet with Marshall O'Donnell's staff tomorrow? They can discuss re-equipment and increased personnel with you. Contact Captain Ott tomorrow afternoon, if you would? The Captain can arrange transportation to headquarters and in general help you out."
The six officers nodded and saluted Eddie. Then they headed for the closest bar.
"Well, they'll be a delight to work with, I'm sure." Rudy said sarcastically.
"You'd be surprised, Rudy. Defeat can change the way people look at things. And I noticed you didn't join me with Prince Palsy."
Rudy grimaced. "As well as being an idiot, he's a human supremacist. Or is that an oxymoron?"
"No, Rudy, you can be an idiot and not be a human supremacist."
Rudy sniffed. "Well, while you were matching half your wit against the divine right of kings personified, I was getting some work done." Rudy looked off into the dwindling crowd and then smiled. "Ah! Here he comes now."
"Oh bloody hell. Do I have to deal with him?" Eddie asked.
"You bloody well do." Rudy shot back.
The object of this discussion was fast approaching us. He was a stocky man in a plain grey uniform. His mouth was set in a grim line and his brows were furrowed.
"Prince Borghese," said Eddie, "how good to see you."
This new prince managed to increase his grimace. "I prefer to be called Captain Borghese. I wish to offer you the services of the Tenth Flotilla, but I require guarantees."
Eddie sighed. "Every commander here wants guarantees that he won't lose personnel or subordinate units, or have his best officers transferred…"
Borghese broke in. "I do not command any unit. The Tenth Flotilla has a division specially trained and equipped to operate in zero gravity and vacuum. Our ships are specially designed to transport and support such operations. I will not have such a unit, the only such division in existence, frittered away as ordinary infantry by commanders who do not understand its proper use. Nor do I intend to see my ships, which were neither designed nor equipped for normal fleet work, taken away from me."
Eddie counter-attacked. "And I cannot have a division that can be used in only those very special cases where its commander thinks it is needed. Nor can I deny my fleet ships that may be desperately needed, just because they have special equipment or training."
"And I might point out to you, Captain, that your so-called division consists of two under-strength battalions that are indeed highly trained and well equipped and four more with minimal training and equipment for zero G and vacuum combat."
"And, sir, your unit is not unique. I have such a unit as part of my Special Operations Regiment."
Borghese leaned forward aggressively. "A unit? A company! That's what you have and it's nowhere as well trained and equipped as mine. And with minimal time and expense, using my troops as cadre, I can provide two complete battalions of fully trained troops for use as the spearhead of my division with four more battalions of lesser quality as follow on troops. Further…"
Kathleen leaned over and put an arm around Eddy. "Marshall, may I speak to you?"
Eddie turned to her. "Not now. I'm busy."
Kathleen smiled broadly. "Perhaps I should rephrase that. Daddy, can I speak to you? Now!"
The conversation stopped as Eddie and Kathleen glared at each other. Borghese looked confused and Rudy was having trouble not smiling.
"Perhaps," said Rudy, "you can advise Colonel de Castries and me on some wine we've come upon here, Captain. I understand you have some expertise in oenology?"
Rudy led Borghese and me to a bar while Eddie and Kathleen continued to glare and whisper at each other.
Rudy had a bartender pour us some Delvian wine, which Borghese found quite good. At least I think he liked it. How the frell can wine taste flinty? It doesn't have rocks in it!
Finally the two O'Donnells walked back over to us, Eddie in the lead.
"My daughter has succeeded in convincing me that I'm still a stubborn Irishman." He began. "Captain, Borghese, the Tenth Flotilla is a unique and very valuable unit. Your successes certainly prove that. We have nothing that can come close to matching your abilities. And, given a relatively short period of time, great improvements can be made in your unit."
Eddie nodded at Kathleen. "My daughter has reminded me that your unit, being designed for zero G work, lacks artillery or armor, and most heavy infantry weapons, relying on your ships for fire support. It would be most unsuitable for the type of ground combat that the rest of my units perform."
"That said, I cannot predict what the future holds for us and cannot promise you that I would never have to use your unit as conventional infantry or use your ships in combat with enemy fleet units. I will promise that you will report directly to me and no one else and I hope you think I have enough sense not to fritter your unit away. Now, I'm sure you could get a better promise from Prince Paul, or from other mercenary commanders here tonight, but I doubt their words will match their deeds."
Eddie held out his hand and after a microt, Borghese shook it.
Rudy smiled, putting an arm around Borghese's shoulder. "Excellent! Captain Borghese, may I suggest you and your staff meet with the Marshall's staff tomorrow?"
In the time we had been talking to Borghese, Prince Paul and the officers that had elected to follow him had left, as had many other mercenary officers. A few commanders of small units came over to offer their services to Eddie, but it was obvious that this party was over.
The remaining officers gathered around Eddie. Soon they were deep in conversations about weaponry and tactics that I was totally unfamiliar with. Then I heard something from a group in brown coats that interested me.
"Well," said one, "these Sebeeceans are just like us, more or less, just look at the Vice-Marshall or Colonel O'Donnell. It stands to reason we can eat their food."
"Crunchy krolak?" One said, mangling the pronunciation.
I broke into their conversation. "Excuse me. Is there crunchy grolak here?"
They turned and nodded. "Yes, Colonel, up the second stairway, then down the hall. There's some Sebeecean…"
"Sebacean." I corrected.
"…Sebacean food there in a little alcove."
I turned and headed for the stairs.
It was odd. I had never cared much about what I ate. When I ceased being a Peacekeeper, I ate whatever food the crew of Moya was able to purchase on the commerce planets we visited. Since he had cut himself off from Earth, John had made an effort to duplicate Earth foods, with some success. I was perfectly happy to eat these foods, once John had perfected them. Rock hard "pancakes", very salty vanilla ice cream and stomach churning "hot dogs" were foods that John had tested on himself.
But for some reason I now wanted Sebacean food.
I reached the top of the stairs and found the alcove. There was a small table set up with only an auto-cooker preparing the food. But there was crunchy grolak, as well as pollabstra soup and grilled telliapin. In microts I filled a plate and found a bench to sit on.
I was contemplating a second helping of everything when I noticed a spot of pelota sauce on my trousers. Well, a little water would take care of that. Certainly the humans had a sanitary facility nearby.
Across the hallway was an open door leading to a darkened room. I decided that it was as good a place as any to look for a sanitary facility.
It took a micron or two for my eyes to adjust to the darkened room. I discovered I was not alone. Luckily, the couple sharing the large room with me were too involved in themselves to notice me.