Napoleon

by Stephen Arseneault

  Daimon again bowed. “Thank you, General. You are a true warrior for the people.”

  The recording was forwarded.

  Reno asked. “Warrior for the people? Are you wanting to give him a power complex?”

  “He already has a power complex.”

  Reno sighed. “I was being facetious. And I have a comment about tactics. We have knowledge of warfare that has been implanted into our heads. No longer should we be fighting with the traditional line of men facing a line of the enemy. We have the advantage of range and firepower. There will no longer be a need to send in battalions when a company or platoon will do. A company of a hundred men will now be able to easily take on an entire regiment of three thousand. Napoleon will need to reorganize his armies.”

  The playback was again begun as the clone returned with the first load of two thousand rifles and a hundred thousand rounds of ammunition. A week was spent identifying and training marksman trainers. From sunup to sundown the rifles were fired as a continuous stream of troops were brought forward and tested. A battalion made up of ten companies of a newly designated unit, to be known as assault infantry, was formed.

  Naffi forwarded the recording to a new time. “This is our first use of the rifles. General Augereau attacked and defeated a division of the Austrian Auxiliary Corps under command of General Provera. Provera's troops then retreated to the abandoned remains of the castle of Cosseria, where our archives show a blunderous attempt was made to drive them out.

  “In the archives, seven hundred Frenchmen were sacrificed without having gained any ground. This time however, a single company of a hundred assault infantry were sent forward. Two hours into the fight the Austrians, with more than two hundred dead, surrendered eight hundred men. Our force lost only four.”

  Reno nodded. “If Napoleon doesn't see the promise in that, he is unworthy of being a general.”

  “Indeed.”

  The battle was played and patiently watched through the eyes of Colonel Daimon Lamonde as he charged up the hill of the castle, leading his new company of men.

  When the Austrians capitulated, Napoleon was standing at the bottom of the hill as a triumphant Daimon walked down to him.

  “Colonel. That was impressive.”

  “Thank you, General. And as you saw, with this new weapon we employed new tactics. No longer will our troops stand face to face with the enemy. We will now use every obstacle in our path for cover, always mindful that a living, uninjured soldier is a precious commodity. Your troops will love you for caring and will fight that much harder for you.”

  Napoleon stared at the clone for several seconds. “Walk with me, Colonel. I wish to discuss your future.”

  Chapter 4

  _______________________

  During the walk with Napoleon, much was discussed. His decision to divide the armies of Austria and Sardinia were talked about and reinforced. The following day, two companies of assault infantry were used to rout the Austrians at Dego, sending the remains of a tattered division fleeing back to Acqui. Five companies were then turned toward the Sardinian army of General Colli. Four days later, a truce was declared with Colli agreeing to send his Sardinians home while disbanding the local militias. With the Sardinians out of the picture, a new effort was made against the divisions of Austrian General Beaulieu.

  Naffi paused the recording after a fast forward. “Here is where we take a drastic turn from history. I convinced Napoleon to give me command of the battalion of assault infantry we had established. I was promoted to Lieutenant General. A new shipment of ammunition was ordered brought to the front. Orders were also sent to reopen the ammunition factory in Rouen.”

  “You will need more than the half million rounds I produced?”

  “Quite possibly. Napoleon intends to drive the Austrians all the way back to Vienna and to force a surrender. We will then push for his elevation back home. Did you realize he established two newspapers during this time? One to be read by Parisians and the other by his troops. What better way to endear the people to oneself than through his own propaganda machines. A brilliant move, which I encouraged.”

  “So what happened next?”

  “We swept through the Lombardy region, devastating the forces of the Austrians, including a siege of a large garrison at Mantua. What had taken months before, was over in a matter of days.”

  “The rifles turned the fight?”

  Naffi smiled. “Allow me to show you.”

  The recording was forwarded to the siege of Mantua and set to play.

  Napoleon was mounted on a horse with Daimon on another at his side. “General, we've done what we can with the rifles. Our marksmen have killed hundreds on their wall. But I would rather not bog our force down here for too long.”

  “What is your plan?”

  Daimon pointed to his left. “A weapon of war from our provincial friends in India. It is called a rocket and the initial designs were provided by Tipu Sultan, designs which were then modified by my cousin Jacques.”

  Reno turned. “The Mysore rockets?”

  “Yes.” Naffi grinned. “And I took the liberty of adding a canister-like casing to the front, which explodes with grapeshot when the rocket reaches the ground. Watch. You will appreciate this.”

  Daimon dismounted and walked to the side of a captain who had just come from a check of the devices. “Captain Deffaeu. What is our status?”

  “All twenty-five hundred are ready, sir. The angles are precisely as you requested.”

  “Excellent. I want them launched in five tranches of five hundred each. Three with the first command and two with the second.”

  “I await your signal, General.”

  Daimon returned to his stallion and was quickly up in the saddle. “General, prepare to witness the defeat of the garrison.”

  An arm was raised and a group of a hundred men came forward with torches, each lighting a stand of five rockets. The smoke and hisses from the first large scale European rocket assault was seen and then heard as the sky filled with bright orange flame and white smoke. The rockets arced perfectly up and then over before crashing down behind the walls of the garrison. Smoke from explosions could be seen several seconds before a thunderous cavalcade of booms echoed up to their position.

  A second set of rockets was lit, followed two minutes later by a third. Flames rose as smoke billowed from the buildings within the garrison.

  Napoleon stared at his General. “Such a weapon will change the nature of war. No fortress will be safe.”

  “Is that not already the case with your artillery?”

  “To a degree, but not such as this.”

  Fifteen minutes was allowed before the fourth and fifth rocket attacks were set in motion. Fires raged. Smoke billowed. Only the occasional soldier could be seen on the wall. Fifteen minutes later, a pair of white cloths were raised and waved. Seconds after, the gates to the garrison opened, signaling surrender. Napoleon ordered a battalion of regulars to move in to collect prisoners.

  Naffi paused the recording. “A great victory without a man lost. Six thousand inside the garrison were mortally wounded or killed while another twenty-four thousand were marched out as prisoners.”

  “I would think that would end the Austrian occupation of Northern Italy.”

  “It did not.”

  The recording was again forwarded to a point and stopped.

  Naffi referenced a map he had pulled up on the display. “We marched west to take the final stronghold at Rivoli. General Beaulieu had massed fifty thousand men there with expectations of not only stopping an assault, but breaking out and pushing us back to the sea. It was not a good morning for the Austrian General.”

  The playback was continued. The assault began with ten thousand rockets flying into the ranks of the Austrian soldiers, followed by a fierce cannonade. What came next was a show of force with twenty thousand French troops lined up in direct view of the Austrians, only just out of range. Napoleon watched the troop movements of the
opposition with fascination as men were pulled from defending the flanks to bolster the front lines. With that mistake made, Daimon rode hard, moving around to the west where his battalion of assault infantry were in position, hiding behind a stand of trees. When Daimon arrived, the assault began.

  Ten companies of French marksmen fanned out in the tree line. Half a dozen volleys from their rifles saw half the west-side defenders fall away from the short defense walls that had been erected. Many of those who remained alive turned and ran. The ten companies then raced forward, stopping every fifty meters to snipe at the Austrians who remained.

  At the same time, Napoleon was feigning a direct assault from the south, freezing the Austrian troops in place as Daimon's battalion raced into their flank. The mayhem within the Austrian units allowed the assault infantry to cut through the defenses with minimal loss, further allowing Daimon's infantry to swarm in behind the Austrians.

  Daimon rode in, dismounting and taking position on a watchtower that had been abandoned as they observed the precision assault being conducted by his troops on a chaotic Austrian force. Thirty-seven minutes after the first shots had been fired, Beaulieu and his staff surrendered. Eight thousand Austrians were dead and the remaining forty-two thousand were now prisoners of war.

  The playback was stopped.

  Reno looked at the Naffi, who was staring at the paused display. “There are two more years. Was the rest of the campaign successful?”

  “I do not know. As I was coming down from the tower, an Austrian came from a building and fired his musket. I was struck in the left lung by a musketball.”

  “The recording says you lived for another two years.”

  “The majority of which I was in and out of consciousness. I lost a lot of blood, but not enough to kill me. However, it was enough to cause brain damage, which I surmise eventually led to my death. I was taken from the front to a home in Savona, where I remained until my body could no longer cope. While only painful at the beginning, the rest was more frustrating than anything. My conscious mind was sharp, but unable to command the body it inhabited. It was little more than an imprisonment really.”

  “Interesting. So many journeys and we are still having completely new and unexpected experiences. At least it was all over in less than a minute.”

  “Not in my mind, it wasn't. Imagine being trapped in a prison where you were unable to move your body for two years. And then try to imagine something worse. This was worse.”

  “You don't seem to have been overly affected. At least on the outside. This won't preclude you from further travels will it?”

  “I may need to take a break.”

  Reno crossed his arms. “I find it interesting that Marwal has not made an appearance. The parameters show he had taken five trips during your last journey, and yet you were never found.”

  “Which brings up another issue. Had I been found he would have had his way with me, plucking out my eye and installing one of those bio-links. I would not have been able to fight it.”

  Reno furrowed his brow. “How exactly did you die?”

  “I don't really know, my senses weren't exactly translating the sights and sounds of my surroundings into coherent thoughts.”

  Reno leaned forward to the controls.

  Naffi asked, “What are you doing?”

  “Moving to the end of the recording. You may not have been able to discern what was happening, but the recorders should have picked up whatever that was.”

  Playback was moved to near the end of the recording and set to play.

  A grinning Marwal was standing over Daimon Lamonde. “It took me a while, but it seems I have finally caught you. And without a struggle. I'm told you won't really feel any pain, regardless, this has to be done.”

  A spoon was removed from a satchel and placed on a table beside Daimon's bed. A scalpel was pulled next. Marwal continued with a stoic expression as he looked down at his arm and began the task of cutting away his flesh to get at one of the embedded bio-link ends.

  “Mm. Not pleasant. And hopefully for both our sakes the first one takes.”

  The spoon was used to carefully remove the clone's left eye. The bio-link was attached to the optic nerve and the eye was returned to its socket.

  Naffi shook his head. “I had no idea this happened. We should move immediately.”

  “I've already set that in motion. Marwal and his team have approximately ten minutes before we have cleared the area. That is, if their attempt to connect a bio-link was even successful.”

  “I was just lying there. I couldn't offer a struggle. I have to believe it worked.”

  “There is always a risk of failure,” Reno said. “And a high risk when utilizing the method they have chosen. The link may not take. Or perhaps your mind was so scrambled the information being passed was corrupted. We will definitely know in the next... nine and a half minutes.”

  A nervous Naffi stared at the display before forwarding the playback to the next sign of activity. A resting Marwal rose from a chair and the process was repeated a second and then a third time.

  Reno smiled. “It appears their method of connection is not working. This may be tremendously good news. If so, Marwal's only course of action will be to terminate our clone.”

  The recording was sped up to the next sign of action where the fourth bio-link was installed in Daimon's other eye. A waiting period ensued so the recording was forwarded to the next action.

  Half an hour after the fourth try, the clone of Marwal stood over the clone of Naffi with a coy smile. “It appears we have a valid connection.”

  Naffi took in a deep breath. “How much time?”

  Reno replied, “Three minutes. And with each minute that passes their chance of catching us diminishes. As it stands now, I would have to believe we are in the clear.”

  Naffi stood and walked the room with his arms crossed. “Have to believe or want to believe?”

  Reno sighed. “It is of course the second.”

  “And if they jump into this sector and we are spotted?”

  “The outcome of any chase would depend on their initial direction and speed. If they come in heading away, we are in the clear. If toward us, we may need to look for options.”

  “Options? Such as?”

  “Such as approaching a planet or star to make use of for a slingshot maneuver. We only need be out of sensor range for a minute to make an un-trackable move.”

  “Time?”

  “We are at two minutes. And we are six minutes from the nearest star system.”

  Naffi rubbed the sides of his head as he walked.

  Reno chuckled. “Strange. I would not have thought one of the premier businessmen of our time could be so nervous.”

  Naffi shook his head. “It has to be these trips. Our interactions with the Humans. I can't tell you the last time I felt this way. Probably back when I was a teen.”

  “It would appear your mind is now processing information in a way similar to what a Human would. Your clones have each been emotional as compared to your former self. Perhaps that is now being wired into your thoughts and feelings.”

  “My clones? Would there be a way to mute those senses?”

  “Not without Dr. Bouthis. You are asking questions that pertain to his realm of expertise. But I would say, if your Human senses were indeed muted, would you be able to adequately function in the Human world?”

  Naffi smirked. “Believe me. There are many there who do so on a daily basis.”

  “Sixty seconds to clear.”

  Naffi stood, quietly staring at the timer on the display as he moved his thin Opamari lips from side to side until the timer hit zero.

  “We are officially clear. And undetected.”

  Naffi returned an annoyed look. “Do you think it's possible Marwal was lying about the connection?”

  “It is possible, but I don't see it as likely. A better explanation would be that they didn't have enough time to get a ship here.”

&n
bsp; The former business tycoon came back to his seat in front of the console. “The archives. Check the archives for change.”

  “I'm afraid we will have to wait until we again have a connection to the empire's network.”

  “Doesn't the download only take minutes?”

  “It does, and I will admit to not performing that task before our departure. The connection bandwidth falls drastically when this station is on the move. I've made a mental note to always immediately make that download as soon as a host awakens. I would now suggest we might also think about changing locations once that is complete. If Marwal and the others were able to make a connection and detect our location they would then only have a window of minutes to get a ship within sensor range.”

  “I guess we learn as we go. We have been playing fast and loose with our security, even with all the planning I initially put into it.”

  Reno nodded. “It is quite easy to get distracted. We are Human after all.”

  A moment of silence followed before the two Opamari broke into laughter. It was a stress reliever that both needed. The station was in route to its new destination for fifteen hours before pulling to a stop. A connection was made to the Empire’s network and the archive was downloaded.

  The new French Empire had expanded to encompass all of Europe and much of Russia, even running down into the Middle East. A new attempt had been made to cross the English Channel to attack Britain, but the British navy had again denied that water route with a number of naval victories.

  Napoleon remained Emperor for another twenty years before a coup by loyalists saw him beheaded. The infighting that followed saw an Empire in rapid decline that was soon divided back into most of its originating states.

  Chapter 5

  _______________________

  Naffi shook his head as he looked over the ancestry data. “Still no change to the present. What must we do?”

  Reno stared at the empty display. “It appears the British again brought an end to this empire. Perhaps we need to go back and change that.”