Castle's Recon
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: I've found that I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: Following Castle's Tanks.
"Could be explosives." Castle said, looking at the odd pile on the bridge about a mile ahead of them.
Sergeant Saava looked at the feed from the drone.
"I'd say those are mostly Han explosives, sir. They put them in those blocks like that. Bricks we call them."
"We'll send Horbo and his team down to look at the bridge. I just hope they don't get blown up."
Saava snorted.
"Damned sloppy way to mine and demolish a bridge."
"True, but a bunch of unhappy conscripts might do it just that way. Get it done any old way and get the hell out."
Horbo and his team checked the explosives and the bridge. Then he radioed back.
"The bridge is clear, sir. And the explosives are just sitting on the roadway of the bridge. Everything's there: Explosives, det cord, blasting caps, remote detonators, everything. I'd guess they just decided to leave everything here."
"Okay," Castle said, "just toss it all in the river."
"Sir, it's really good explosives. We might need some to break into the palace."
"Okay, take what you need and dump the rest."
As it happened, Horbo took every bit. Castle hoped that Horbo's track didn't hit a mine or something. The explosion would be devastating.
There were no more problems, and they eventually came to the capital city, Anar.
"Locked up tight as a drum." Saava said, sticking his head out of the hatch of the command track.
"If there's going to be shooting, anyone with any sense is in the deepest basement." Rick replied.
"Well, here's someone with no sense."
Sure enough, a man was running towards them, shouting. He stopped by the command track and yelled at them in a language no one there understood while pointing down the street.
Castle pulled out the map he'd been sent.
"It looks like this is the main street of the town. If we go straight, we'll get to the palace. I think that's what he wants."
Castle thanked the man and off they went. They soon arrived at the palace.
"Looks like no one's at home." Rick said.
"I doubt that."
"Okay, my scouts and Lieutenant MacNeill's infantry platoon will go in the front door."
"The doorway is big enough to drive a tank through, sir."
"So it is. But once we get inside, it'll be hell moving a tank in a building. The floors might not take the weight of a tank, narrow hallways will limit the ability of the main guns to traverse, all sorts of things. We'll leave the tanks outside for now. If we need them later, they can come in."
Castle with Saava and his radio operator, Corporal Tarn, led his platoon forward. Rick noticed that the Scots were trying to be the first to enter the palace and his scouts were trying to beat them.
"Listen up, everyone. This isn't a footrace. We'll do this like professional infantry. One squad of each platoon moves while the others provide cover. Understand?"
They moved slowly into the palace. It seemed to be deserted. It also looked like there had been a firefight inside.
Castle had no idea what the floorplan of the palace was like. But the widest hallway stretched away towards a set of very tall metallic doors.
"We'll go straight. MacNeill, when we come to an intersecting hallway, we'll leave a fireteam behind to guard it. You'll leave the first fireteam behind, then my scouts. It doesn't look like there's more than three hallways crossing the main one.
The doors at the end of the hallway were enormous. A good twenty feet tall and fifteen feet wide apiece. They seemed to be quite solid. The Tarkai began sniffing.
"Sir, there are humans behind the doors." Saava said. "Maybe forty or fifty and we can smell the aroma of gun oil inside as well."
"We'll need explosives to breach the door, sir." Lance Corporal Horbo said. "The door hinges are on the inside, but I can guess where they are."
"Go ahead and get your explosives." Rick said. "We'll move everyone back to the first crossing hallway to keep away from the blast."
They moved back and Horbo and his team went to work. Castle estimated he'd used half the explosives they had, including the explosives from the bridge. Once the explosives were set, Horbo and his team moved back to the safety of the hallway and blew the door. When the smoke cleared, Rick could see that one door had been slightly blown off its hinges, but only left enough room for one person at a time to enter.
"I think we should try the recoilless rifle." Rick said.
He sent for Lieutenant Mackenzie to bring up the weapon. As he did so, he noticed a person in the scouts' camouflage uniform who had far longer hair than any Tarkai.
"Miss Renoir? What are you doing here? You're a civilian."
"I also have medical knowledge, Captain Castle, and medicines. When your Corporals Charles, Whaan and Honoff went by, I grabbed a uniform and followed them."
Somehow Rick doubted that Simone had just managed to grab a uniform.
"Miss Renoir…" Castle began.
"Captain Castle, you do not have the time to argue with a very stubborn woman and you may need me."
Castle saw Mackenzie passing Miss Renoir with the recoilless rifle and his crew. The crew did not include Private McAuslan. Castle decided to focus on the main problem at hand.
Mackenzie and his team set up the recoilless rifle and fired. The already damaged door was now halfway off the hinges. They fired at the other door and were rewarded by seeing both doors fall.
"Don't charge!" Castle yelled. "Fire tear gas grenades and smoke into the room. When it's full of smoke and tear gas, spray the room with machine gun fire."
In two minutes, the room was full of choking clouds of tear gas and smoke. Castle ordered the machine gunners to get to work. Finally, the moved slowly into the room, wearing gas masks.
"I think they're all dead, sir." Said Lieutenant MacNeill.
"This one had a crown on his head." Someone said.
They examined the corpse. Castle decided it probably was the former king. He guessed that the king had made his last stand in the throne room.
"We need to find the Saint Ann diplomatic group. It'll take forever to go through the whole damned palace, assuming they're even here."
"Sir," called one of the scouts, "I think this man is trying to tell us something."
The man, who looked like might be a servant of some sort kept talking excitedly in a language no one understood but kept pointing down a hallway. They followed him to a door in a small alcove. Opening the door, they found a set of rough steps leading downwards.
"If I had to design the entrance to a dungeon, this would be it." Castle said.
Sergeant Gorad's team, the best scouts that Castle had, led the way. The steps led down and down, finally coming to an open space.
"The place has been deserted by humans for about an hour, sir." Gorad told Rick. "This would be where the guards stayed, I imagine. We can smell lots of humans beyond the door. They smell of fear, sweat, and death."
"We'll go in." Rick said.
Gorad threw open the door, waited a second and then went in. Ahead of him was a long corridor, lined with cells on either side. The cells were packed with people of all ages. There was a moment of silence and then the crowd erupted. They screamed at the soldiers. Their expressions were not at all friendly. Several spat at Castle's troops.
"Not glad to see us, sir." Saava said.
"Who knows. Maybe this is where they keep the violent mental cases or something." Rick raised his voice. "Everybody stay in the center of the corridor. I don't want anyone being grabbed."
Sergeant Gorad led the way down the corridor. When he got to the end, he called to Castle.
"Sir, you should come and see this."
This was a cell with only five women in it. All appeared to be young, perhaps in their mid to late twenties and all appeared to be attractive, although quite haggard by their incarceration. Castle guessed that their clothing had been expensive, although now torn and shabby. One tall blonde woman walked towards the door. As she did, the other women knelt and briefly took her hand. Then she stood in front of the cell door.
"Did anyone think to find the keys?" Castle asked.
"Yes, sir." Saava said, handing Rick some keys.
He went through almost all the keys before he got to the one that opened the cell. The woman walked out, closing the cell door after her. Rick didn't bother to lock it again. She said something to Rick and then headed down the hallway.
As they left, most of the other prisoners bowed or curtsied to her as she passed. Once passed, they resumed screaming at the soldiers.
The woman was only able to go up the stairs one at a time until Sergeants Gorad and Saava got on either side of her and helped her. She said something to them but allowed them to help her.
Once back at the throne room, the woman seemed to be surprised that the king was laying there quite dead. Again, she said something to Castle and pointed to the dead king.
"Does anyone here speak this language?" Castle yelled.
"But, of course, mon capitaine. I speak Sami." Simone said.
Castle was no longer surprised at what Miss Renoir was capable of.
"Will you please find out who she is and what's going on here?"
Simone began talking to the woman who at first seemed reluctant to talk, but soon became quite voluble.
Finally, Simone turned to Rick.
"The young lady here is the widow of the former baron of this land, Baroness Agnete. The would be king, a soldier, wished to marry her to try to legitimize his position. She refused so she was thrown into the dungeon along with her ladies and her servants. They would have been executed one by one until she agreed."
"Why was everyone so mad at us?"
"The former king told everyone that a regiment of extraterrestrial barbarians was coming here and would eat everyone they found. He said they were cannibals, non? He did this to make his men fight harder, but, alas for him, most of them ran away instead."
"Does she know what happened to the diplomats from Saint Ann?"
Simone spoke with the woman again.
"She says that they were led by her servants out into the woods. She'll send her people to find them and bring them back. If you'll give her the keys, she'll find some of the palace staff and have them release the prisoners in the dungeon."
Castle handed over the keys and eventually a maid was found to go to the dungeon and explain who the Tarkai really were and release the prisoners.
Before long, the diplomats were found, and a transport aircraft was sent by the Flying Circus to take them to Courland. From there an aircraft from Saint Ann would take them home. He did manage to get Miss Renoir on the plane back to Courland. She gave him a quick kiss before she left.
"Adieu, Capitaine Castle. Perhaps we'll meet again." Then she was gone.
Before they left, Castle was knighted by Baroness Agnete, which he said could get him a cup of coffee along with a UK pound.
"The Duchy of Harlech is next, isn't it, sir?" Saava asked.
"Next and last." Rick replied. "We haven't heard of any problems there so let's hope that it's a nice peaceful place."
Castle was disappointed, of course. But it was nice to think about a peaceful duchy as they drove through the countryside.
TBC