by Kal Spriggs
Richardson gave a nod, “It was, but if you seize the objective, haven’t you defeated the enemy force? Imagine that this was a real-life scenario, where you are fighting a group of insurgents defending their headquarters. Taking their headquarters, seizing their leadership and their supplies, you rob them of the ability to fight in a coherent force.” He looked around the barracks. “Intelligence, knowing your enemy and their capabilities, is more important than knowing where they are or getting them to fight. Many militaries, the Guard included, forget that victory is not merely about defeating your enemy in the field. A tactical or operational loss can still be a strategic victory.”
At that point, I raised my hand, “Sir, I’m not sure I understand. Are you saying we need to avoid fighting or even retreat from a direct fight, even under favorable conditions like a defense?”
Richardson’s gaze went to me and he pursed his lips. “I would think the tactic of hitting your enemy where they are weakest would appeal to you, Vars.” The rebuke was clear, but he shook his head, “My apologies, I understand the intent of your question.” He closed his eyes in thought, as if he were trying to find a different way to say it. “Fighting this enemy force, whether on the attack or defense, does not further the primary objective of seizing your target.” He highlighted the high ground that we’d been tagged to take.
“What I am saying is that fighting the enemy on their terms, whether it is favorable tactically or not, is not what we want you to do. Your people will know how to fight, enlisted and officers. Do not mistake that. But what we expect of you, should you pass on to be Initiates and eventually commission as officers, is to understand why you are to fight and more importantly, when it is necessary to risk your personnel, equipment, and ships.”
He highlighted the enemy force we’d defeated, “They had no importance. A kill count gives us no value. A massacre creates unhappy relatives, martyrs for the cause, and cements our role as brutal oppressors or bloodthirsty savages in the minds of those we fight.”
Hard to break that when they’re a bunch of slaving jerks, Shadow noted.
“Our goal is to defeat our enemies in the most efficient manner possible and if that is to massacre them in droves, then that is the method the Emperor will expect you to uphold. But more likely than not, a single surgical strike is more efficient. Locating the leader of a resistance cell and kidnapping him, leaving no signs of forced entry and no witnesses. Targeting enemy morale and will to fight through effective propaganda and psychological warfare. Identifying potential sources of corruption in a planet’s leadership and coercing or bribing them to follow our direction.”
That last one hit home, especially given what I’d learned of Crown Prince Abrasax. That had been exactly what they had done on Century. It didn’t work, Shadow reminded me, but only barely. She admitted that last part with bitterness.
“Later on, we will study military history. Many are the wars where the numerically and militarily superior won battles and then lost the wars. We want you to win both, Vars, but more importantly, we want you to understand what is more important: a tactical victory versus a strategic one. As long as we retain our forces and avoid a catastrophic loss, we can always retake ground or survive embarrassment. Knowing our enemies, understanding their weaknesses, and knowing when to retreat and when to outmaneuver them will grant us victory, even in the face of a seeming defeat.”
That was a thought that left me uncomfortable and as the conversation moved on, it left me a lot to think about. If I understood the idea right, then the mindset of the Drakkus Imperial Space Korps was that so long as they preserved their forces, so long as they understood their enemy, then victory would be inevitable. They won’t give up, not unless they lose the ability to fight, and they’ll avoid that kind of engagement at all costs.
That didn’t bode well for my homeworld.
***
That night, after I was well and truly exhausted, Richardson called us into formation. My body ached and I felt an uncomfortable itch on my neck, right where I’d get my quick heal injection. If I wasn’t so tired and sore, I’d see if I could do without it. I didn’t like feeling dependent on the stuff.
“Jade Flight has patrol duty tonight. I need three volunteers,” Richardson noted.
Ah… hock. I stepped forward. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jonna step forward.
Before Osmund could step forward, Kiyu did. Jonna and Kiyu on the same patrol. Double hock. I hadn’t really thought this would happen so soon after talking to her. I thought I’d have time to work things out, maybe to talk Jonna around or at least give Kiyu some time to think.
Richardson looked at Kiyu, then at Jonna, and finally at me. He almost looked as if he wanted to tell us no, that he knew something was up. But then he just made a face. “Very well, report to the patrol officer.”
We left. I noticed that neither Jonna nor Kiyu wanted to let the other be behind them where they couldn’t see one another. Our jog there was an awkward one, with me in the lead and the pair of them jogging next to one another. As we came up to the lift, I saw Daewa Tong waiting, tapping his foot impatiently. There were several other patrols there already, including one from Iron Flight. Jerral stood with that group, his two companions with him. He wore a pleased expression and as he saw me jog up, that expression creased with a smirk.
Triple hock. Something was up and now Jerral was involved. Since Jerral’s patron was Prince Ladon… Oh, this is really bad.
I shot Princess Kiyu a look, but she was staring at Jerral with an intent, hostile expression. I would guess that she hadn’t arranged for him to be here with her cousin, so that meant that Jerral was here because he’d been sent to deal with me. You’re probably in a lot of trouble, Shadow told me, I thought her words quite unnecessary.
Daewa Tong briefed each patrol team individually, being overly exacting on making certain they knew their patrol routes and stuck to them. When he got to us, he paused. “Now, Jade Flight, Entrants Vars, Hayden, and---”
He visibly choked, staring at Princess Kiyu. An expression of panic crossed his face before he could get control of himself. “Ent- Entrant Drakkan, I had not expected you.”
“I am no different from any other entrant, sir,” Kiyu replied, “I serve the Emperor and the Empire.”
“Yes,” Tong grimaced, “of course. A duty we all bear,” He transferred us a patrol route. It went through the same section he’d tried to send us to before. “Entrants, keep to your patrol route. Do not veer off of it.”
“Yes, sir,” we all chorused. None of us had any intention of following that route. If I came back, I’d have to find some way to answer to why I hadn’t. But if everything worked out, I could point Princess Kiyu at the issue of House Mantis, I could wash my hands of the place in good conscience, and join the entrants and escape this wretched place.
We loaded up in the lift. Jerral’s group got the last briefing and I didn’t miss how the three of them watched us. Whatever they were given, they were coming down here because of me. Maybe because of us, I shot a look at Jonna and then Kiyu. Prince Ladon apparently didn’t have much love for his cousin. Had he sent Jerral here to make sure that she wasn’t going to come back?
Things were already going to be dicey enough with the Hunters down there. I really didn’t want to have to dodge Jerral and his people the whole time, too.
As they came into the lift, the big space seemed suddenly much smaller. The doors closing made it seem downright claustrophobic. Just a little longer, Will, I told myself, you’re almost free and clear.
Somehow, knowing I’d be leaving Jonna and Kiyu to deal with the mess meant that thought wasn’t all that reassuring.
***
Chapter 14: I Find Something Unexpectedly Familiar
We headed out in the direction indicated on our route, with me leading the way and Jonna watching our backs. “Your buddy is watching us,” Jonna noted.
I shot a glance over my shoulder and saw Jerral and his people standing
at the lift doors. Unlike the other patrol teams, they hadn’t left the immediate area. And they were very obviously watching us.
They hadn’t raised their weapons or taken any hostile actions, not yet. But the spot on my back, just between my shoulder blades, itched right up until we got into the tunnel and out of sight.
“What’s the plan?” Jonna asked softly.
“We need to divert,” I told her, shooting a glance at Kiyu. “But we need to make sure we’re not followed by the Iron Flight patrol.” I looked around, “Lokka are you here?”
“Here,” The civet crawled down a wall just over Jonna’s head. In the dim light and the dingy gray stone and concrete of the tunnels, his gray and brown spotted hide blended in so perfectly that none of us had seen him. Kiyu started a bit and then shot me a look, one part inquisitive and another surprised. Good, maybe if I keep her a bit off balance, she will stop underestimating me and talk to me straight.
“What’s the status of the Hunters?” I asked.
“Very busy,” he told me with a yawn. “Much moving of boxes, in and out, careful.” He used a claw to dig at something stuck in his teeth. “Boxes piled up in one spot. Boxes taken out, boxes brought in. Side by side.”
That sounded like they were making an exchange or trade. We needed to see what they were doing. “Is it well guarded?” I asked
“It was,” Lokka flitted his tail, then crawled along the wall to look down the corridor towards where we were supposed to patrol. He gave a chittering trill and a moment later, I heard a matching one. Other civets.
“Other clan,” he admitted to me. “They curious. Not as smart as me.” He said proudly. “But curious and smart. They help track Hunters. Fun game in dark.”
Once again, he reminded me that we had different ideas of “fun.”
“Many Hunters come this way. Like they know you coming,” he pointed a finger at me. “Few Hunters in main tunnels, leading to spaceport. Fewer guarding boxes. We go quick, we can make it there… or to spaceport. Not both.”
I realized what he meant. The route was clear, because all of House Mantis’s people were down here, looking for me. Or us, maybe they got the message that Kiyu was coming down as well. But if I was going to get offworld, I had to got get the renegade entrants and we had to go now.
“We’ve got a team behind us, we need to give them the slip, first,” I told him. I pulled up a map on my implant and checked our options. “There’s a tunnel about a hundred meters down that we can take—”
“Hunters collapsed,” Lokka told me.
Jonna frowned, consulting her map, “What about the one twenty meters up, it opens into a vertical shaft, but—”
“Hunters collapsed lower connecting section. No escape that way,” Lokka told her.
“If we go any deeper, we’ll almost certainly run into the Hunters,” I said. “You said there were a lot of them, how many exactly?” I wasn’t certain how good he was with numbers. I mean, I knew he was technically proficient, but that wasn’t the same as being able to count, right?
“Twenty-four,” he told me. “Six packs of four.”
Hock. This was not looking good.
“We’ll have to go back,” Kiyu said it calmly, as if that weren’t an issue.
“What about Jerral and his two friends?” I asked.
She gave me a level look and hefted her rifle.
“We’re not going to kill them!” I protested.
“They won’t hesitate to kill us,” Kiyu answered. “They were almost certainly sent by my cousin to do so.”
I opened my mouth to argue and Jonna interrupted me. “I hate to agree with her, but she’s right. If we don’t take them down, they’ll keep us trapped in here and then the Hunters will zero in on us soon enough. The only way to get past them is to deal with them.”
I looked over at Lokka, who gave a yawn. He didn’t care if we killed our fellow humans or not.
Although… I started to smile. “I have an idea.”
***
“How long do we have to wait?” One of Jerral’s people asked.
“Until they come back or it’s time to go,” Jerral snapped. “Trust me, we don’t want to come back at all if they slip past us.” We’d crept in the dark, close enough to hear them, just around the last bend before the tunnel opened out.
“You sure about this?” Another of them asked. “I mean, outright killing another entrant, much less a royal…”
“My patron will protect us,” Jerral insisted. “And besides, from what he said, all we have to do is keep them from coming back this way. He said there’s someone else who will take care of them as long as we keep this route blocked.”
“What’s that?” One of them asked.
I poked my head around the corner down low, where I hoped they wouldn’t see me. I saw Lokka walking calmly towards the three of them, coming from the side, where he must have crept unnoticed. He walked on all fours, taking prancing little steps as if he had not a care in the world.
“Some kind of critter,” Jerral grunted. A rat or something?”
“Aw, no, it’s a civet, we go to—”
He didn’t get an opportunity to finish. Lokka turned, flared his tail, and cut loose with his musk glands.
The three of them started coughing and choking and stumbled away, dropping their weapons in a rush to get out of the stream. Fat lot of good it will do you, I thought with malicious glee.
I led the way around the corner, moving quickly and sticking to the shadows along the wall. It was about fifty meters to the entrance of the tunnel we wanted and we covered it in a quick rush. The hardest part of it all was stifling the giggles as Jerral and his friends thrashed on the floor and gagged at their own stench.
As we got to the next branching, I led the way a short distance before pausing and waiting a moment. Jonna and Kiyu paused with me, but I could see their impatience. “This is where we have to make a decision,” I said.
“I’ve already made my decision,” Kiyu snapped. “I need to see what they are doing down here.”
“And I’m not letting her out of my sight,” Jonna snapped.
“That’s where you’re wrong,” I told her, my voice harsh.
“What?” She stared at me. I waved her to the side and we moved a short distance down the corridor. “I need you to go get the renegade entrants and get them moving to the spaceport. Even if Vivar’s uncle isn’t there, this is their one and probably only opportunity to get out of here.”
“You’re insane,” Jonna hissed at me. “One, you are supposed to go with them. You and I both know that’s your plan. You’ve got no stake in this. Go home, go live your life.”
“Look,” I shook my head, “I want to. You have no idea how much I want to go… but that leaves you and Kiyu. I can see how you two look at one another. Can you honestly tell me that you two will make it to this exchange or whatever it is, without killing one another along the way? And then, on top of that, deal with whatever Mantis is doing?”
Jonna looked away. “Her family—”
“Her family isn’t here. She is… and she came without any allies except me. She trusted me, Jonna… something you haven’t done very much of, I might add,” I couldn’t help that jab at her.
Her blue eyes flashed with anger, “How dare you! I saved you when you had nothing, when you were one step above the gutter!”
“But you never trusted me, you never told me what you were up to, what the stakes were,” I answered, my voice hard. “But that doesn’t matter. Because let me ask you this. Do you trust her to know about those six pathetic deserters?”
Jonna looked away. “Not really. She might not care, but she might report them on principle.”
“Therefore, we can’t go there as a group. And they’re probably in rough shape, so they’re going to need help. And I know I can’t trust you and her to keep your personal disagreements under wraps to get things done.” I leaned close, “so the real question is… do you trust me, Jonna? Not with
your secrets, but to make the right judgement call with whatever it is that House Mantis is doing down here?”
She took a step back, crossing her arms and staring at me. “That’s not fair.”
“Oh?” I arched an eyebrow at her.
“See, I was going to say you don’t know enough to make the right call… but then you could turn that around on me, since I haven’t told you enough.” She shook her head, “I hate this. I really hate that you’re not entirely wrong… and this is probably the least bad decision to make.”
“You’re not saying it’s the good decision?” I dared to give her a smirk
“It isn’t a good decision,” Jonna bit back, “it’s just the best of a bad lot. Fine. I’ll go. She turned and marched back to Kiyu, pointing a finger in her face. “I don’t trust you.”
“I don’t trust you, either,” the princess responded calmly.
Jonna pointed at me. “He’s going with you. If he doesn’t come back… I’m going to kill you. Do you understand?”
Kiyu’s eyebrows went up. “Not remotely. Why would I harm him?”
Jonna growled something under her breath. “Fine. I’ll see you both later. Here I suppose?”
I nodded. She jogged off without another word.
“Where is she going?” Kiyu asked me.
“None of your business,” I told her. “Lokka?”
The civet trotted out of the shadows, pausing to cock an ear. I wondered if he was still listening to Jerral and the others rolling around. “Ready,” the furry little creature bared his teeth.
“Let’s go,” I said.
***
Lokka led the way fast enough that I had to jog to keep up. Since he wasn’t anything near as tall as me, that led to some interesting problems. More than once I had to duck as he dove through low openings and one of those times I wasn’t quick enough to do so, clobbering myself good on a projecting bit of rock from the low ceiling and nearly knocking myself out. Kiyu had to help me to my feet and I waved at Lokka to wait for a minute.
