Castle's Team
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: Go Castle! Yeah Team! Oh, I don't own any of this. Rating: K Time: After my story Castle's Recon.
"Ms. Renoir, what are you doing here?" he asked.
She saluted with a smile.
"Surgeon-Captain Simone Renoir, reporting for duty, sir. I command Airborne Surgical team 102. I bring you four other doctors and seventeen other medical specialists."
"You're a doctor?"
Simone frowned.
"Oh, pauvre Simone. Her commander thinks women should stay home, cook, clean and have babies."
"No. No, that's not it at all." Rick said quickly. "It's just that you don't see many doctors wandering around on backwoods planets."
"Some doctors want to work on backwoods planets, mon capitaine. I am a paratrooper, "she tapped the airborne wings on her chest, "and a graduate of the University of Berne Medical School."
Castle had no idea where Berne was, and it must have shown on his face.
"Berne is in Switzerland, on Earth." Simone said. "In addition, I have been studying what is known about your Tarkai. I cannot claim to be an expert, but I do know enough to help. Now, if you will excuse me, mon capitaine, I must see to the unloading of our gear."
As Simone walked off Rick couldn't help but notice that she was as attractive from the back as from the front.
Castle continued to get small groups of reinforcements. The largest group were Tarkai that would be slotted into the line rifle squads. They had gone through basic military training, infantry training, airborne training and commando training, for a total of ten months of training. The enlistment contract for Tarkai was for six years, but all but a tiny minority would continue to be soldiers until they retired, were invalided out, died, or, as many hoped, they returned to their homes as liberators.
The next largest group were Tarkai who had had all of the required combat training and had added other military skills, such as snipers, heavy weapons crewpersons, radio operators and sappers.
The smallest group were Tarkai who had completed advanced technical training. They included males who repaired radios, night vision devices, vehicles, heavy weaponry, as well as medics.
When Team Castle was ready to go, Colonel Black Jacques Schram briefed the entire unit. Behind him was a holo of part of the planet of Haven.
"This river valley is the settled part of Haven." He pointed to the holo. "The locals named the river the River Jordan after a river back on Earth with Christian symbolism. Almost all of the original settlers were some sort of Christians, but they've all managed to get along together."
"The destroyer HMS Matapan is just back from Haven. The Euros have been pushing the Havenites pretty hard, taking over their farms and forcing the Havenites that don't escape to work for them. More than half of the Havenites have been pushed back towards the mouth of the River Jordan and the city, if you can call it that, of New Ark. Matapan did land her Marine contingent, but that's only fourteen men. They are keeping the Euros away, but they need Team Castle badly. In addition, your transport will be taking ration packs for the Havenite refugees. So many farms have been taken over that they're short of food."
"Any questions?"
Castle raised his hand.
"Any chance the Han Worlds will get involved, sir?"
The United Kingdom, the richest and most powerful star nation in the Europa Cluster, based in a solar system with three habitable worlds and one habitable moon, had been fighting the Shadow War with the Han Words for decades. Although nominally an independent colony, the three Han Worlds were in fact a colony of China, back on Earth. The Chinese hoped to use them to eventually take over the whole Europa Cluster as a prelude to China taking over the whole of human space.
Since a war between nuclear armed powers would be catastrophic, the two sides hardly ever fought each other directly. Instead, Han "volunteers" supported pro-Han groups throughout the Cluster, and they were opposed by "mercenaries" who just happened to be from the United Kingdoms, such as Black Jacques Schram's Mercenary Brigade. Of course, no one over the age of ten believed that these people were "volunteers" or "mercenaries", but it was a convenient fiction.
"No, Rick. Intelligence doesn't see any Han Words involvement. The Chinese back on Earth were deeply offended that another group of "round eyed, long nosed, ocean barbarians" would want to expand the Triple Alliance to include Europe. They pushed very hard to get the most hard-core Euro Nationalists booted off of Earth."
They were sent to Haven on the fast transport HMS Ocean. The Marine contingent from Matapan was brought up first and Castle had a chance to talk to Sergeant MacInnes, the Marine detachment NCOIC.
"The Euros are all of fighting age, sir. Both men and women. Most have a bolt action rifle, chambered to the same 7mm long cartridge we use, plus a few semi-automatic carbines and a few shotguns. Most, if not all, have a pistol. They're fairly well trained, for political bully boys, but as a group they have no concept of tactics. They stayed away from us as best they could, but there were only fourteen of us and two thousand of them."
"We did take six prisoners, but they weren't in a talkative mood. We built us a fine jail for them and put each in his or her own cell so they couldn't plot."
"We managed to recover seven undamaged rifles, and I armed seven locals with them. These were what they call woods runners, fellows who aren't interested in farming, but head off to the unexplored parts of the Jordan River Valley to hunt and trap. Two took off after a few missions. I don't know if they had some private revenge in mind or just decided to go, and to hell with everyone else."
Once his team was dirtside, Castle went to visit Brother Daniel. He had been elected by the various congregations to be what passed for the executive authority on the planet. He was tall, bearded and dressed in a long robe. Rick decided that he may have been good at settling boundary disputes or some such, but militarily, he was useless.
"Tactics, Captain Castle? Um, they shoot at us and take our lands. And our people, if they can."
Rick thanked him and went about his business.
Lance Corporal Tunno was all ready. He had borrowed a blood covered apron from a local butcher and had a meat cleaver that had been honed to razor sharpness. With him were four burly Tarkai. He led them into the cell of the first prisoner.
"On your feet!" Roared Corporal Thannat. "Time for inspection."
"Inspection? Inspection Of what?" The prisoner demanded, not getting up off of his cot.
"Your body, of course. We need to know how to prepare you." Tunno said with a smile.
"Prepare me for what?" He yelled as he was hauled too his feet.
"For our arrival banquet."
"Why would I..." Then it hit him. "You're going to eat me?" he screamed.
"Only if you're healthy. Have you been using drugs or alcohol in excess? Fried liver is always a treat for us."
"Cannibalism is illegal!" the prisoner screamed.
"Brother Daniel has assured us that they never even considered passing a law forbidding inter-species cannibalism. They never saw the need."
"You can't just kill me."
"Of course we can." Said First Lieutenant Saava, coming in at just the right moment. He turned to Tunno. "Is he fit for the ceremony?"
"He looks quite good, sir. Now, just imagine him all nicely roasted and with an apple in his mouth. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it."
"You can't murder me!" Screamed the prisoner.
"We won't murder you." Saava said, "We'll execute you, all legally. You're not a soldier, so you don't get the protections of the Laws of War which makes you a criminal. You've killed, stolen and pillaged. You're quite useless to us other than as a meal. And don't worry. You won't feel a thing. We're quite good at this."
"I can be of use to you. I can tell you a lot about us. All sorts of things."
"Please, sir." Tunno said. "They always say that. Just to get out of being the main course. Just let me get on with it, sir."
"It won't hurt to hear him out." Saava said, as if seriously considering what to do. "If he has nothing of any use, we can always make snacks of him later."
The prisoner was led to the office of the small jail and was very, very cooperative. The other prisoners were also cooperative since they had heard what had almost happened to the first prisoner.
Later that evening Castle went over the intelligence Saava and his people had gotten from the prisoners.
"I think you have real talent as an actor, Saava."
"I prefer being a soldier, sir." He replied stiffly.
"You will be. I'm getting a feel for where our first attacks will go."
Next, Castle went off to find the woods runners.
They hung out at a tavern on the north coast of the sea, about five miles from New Ark. They were quite a rowdy bunch and what passed for New Ark's police force rarely bothered them. Castle took Sergeant Fa'an, the head of his sniper squad along. Fa'an wasn't carrying his usual sniper rifle, but a standard long battle rifle without the usual scope.
"I'm looking for the woods runners who were with Sergeant McInnes." Castle said, going inside the rather dingy tavern.
"Waal, Abraham and Gabriel are passed out in the back, and I don't know where Jonah and Simon are, but I'm Gideon. You must be one of them fellers what come with all them furry critters."
"I'm Captain Rick Castle and I command the Tarkai. They're soldiers and damned good shots. Better than you are."
Gideon wasn't going to let a challenge like that go by.
"Better 'n me? Care to wager a bit of silver on that?"
Castle had come prepared. He put three large silver coins down on the bar.
Gideon smiled and put three smaller coins down, then added a fourth.
"Seems about even." He said. Rick just nodded.
They went outside. Rick pointed at a tree. "See that tree with the two branches sticking out at ninety-degree angles? That's about three hundred meters away."
"That's called a crucifix tree." Gideon said. "it's three hundred and twenty meters away."
"I suggest Sergeant Fa'an here shoot at the left branch and you shoot at the right branch. Since he has a semi-automatic rifle, I'm going to suggest that the winner will be the one who drops his branch with the fewest rounds. I have fifty rounds for you, just in case you don't have that many rounds."
"That's mighty neighborly of you." He took a box of cartridges from Rick and poured the rounds into the pocket of his homespun cloth coat.
"Are you ready?" Rick asked.
"Sure am."
"Then fire when you please."
Both shooters fired. Gideon was a good shot and was hitting his branch with every round, but he wasn't as efficient as Sergeant Fa'an. Every one of Fa'an's rounds hit just below the previous round, gradually sawing through the branch. At thirty-one rounds, Fa'an's branch fell to the ground. Gideon kept shooting until the branch dropped after forty-four rounds.
"He's a damned good shot." Gideon said as Rick collected his winnings.
"Want to make some silver back?"
"How?"
"My command was sent here to hunt down the Euros that have been attacking you. We're good but we don't know the area. I need some scouts, and I'll pay you ten silvers a month, the same as Sergeant MacInnes, plus I'll give you a rifle you can keep, just like Sergeant Fa'an's. You'll also get uniform and field equipment, but you'll have to shave and get a haircut. And bathe."
"Ten silvers and a rifle? You got yourself a scout."
Author's Note: As you probably know FFnet was not sending out any alerts for new stories, reviews, etc, for a long time. Finally, I got an enormous number of alerts going back several stories. I had tried to PM everyone who had reviewed my stories and if I missed you, I just want you to know I appreciate your reviews.
TBC