by Chris Hechtl
The Gunny told them that they managed to kill a few of the engineers, a dozen soldiers, and set fire to some of their supplies, but couldn't get close enough to the lords tents to do anything there. “They're smart; all of them are smack dab in the center of camp. If we'd captured a few of their soldiers we might have walked in like we owned the place, but it would have been a suicide mission,” the Gunny said, reading the report.
“Newman’s nuts,” Waters said with a snort. “Trust him to try a cockamamie scheme like that.” Perry shook his head at that.
The raiders returned by LAVs with three dead and seven wounded two days later. Doc took charge of the wounded immediately. Perry added new trainees to the group and then had them rest and train for two days before sending them out again. He had a third and fourth thirty man team ready by the time they left. These went out as well but at different times from the first two teams. For security reasons each of the teams would know other teams were active, but wouldn't know where they were or their plans unless they had to.
Each team was mounted, each rider had two spare animals, one was heavily loaded with supporting materials, and the other was only lightly loaded. By shifting the rider to another mount, varying the trot and possibly picking up spares they would hopefully make good time. Hopefully. If the weather held out. Ryans turned a disgusted eye skyward to the clouds overhead. They were probably due for rain any time. It was just as well the teams had gotten out before hand.
As they left Charlie asked about the riders nearby wearing royal livery. Ryans explained that the monarchy had set up a pony express mail system and a semaphore system decades ago. “The Queen is sending out word of what is going on, and ordering additional armies to be formed and defenses to be set up.”
“And that?” Charlie asked, seeing each had a package. “Oh, I'm sending out blueprints to their blacksmiths and scribes. Terran John Deere plows, and other things,” he explained. She nodded. “Max made a couple of prototypes but not enough to really make a dent,” he said with a grimace of annoyance. Sure they made some difference here in the fields feeding the capital but not much.
“Ah. Will it help? Perry asked.
Ryan shrugged. “Logistics. If they can be more efficient farming then there is more food for less work... Which means the men and women not farming can work on other things.” He waved to indicate the growing army, then to the city beyond and the factory smoke stacks. Another factory was currently under construction off in the distance. “We're going to need a boost in production since we're losing so many farm hands from the field to fight. They're barely subsistence farmers even in a good year,” he said, wrinkling his nose at such a concept.
Perry nodded. “Ah. Gotcha. The signal mirror thing too?” he asked.
Ryans nodded. “There are also food preservation techniques, first aid courses for healers, and some basic ideas.”
Perry smiled. “Good. Disseminating knowledge,” he said. He left with a wave. They turned to see the riders ride off in different directions.
“Where are the other two teams going?” Charlie asked following him. He looked around to make sure they weren't being overheard.
He frowned and then sighed. It wasn't like she'd blab. “Ordinarily I'd tell you to keep your nose short Charlie but in this case,” he pulled his earpiece off and shut it off. She blinked and then followed his example. When she had pocketed it like he did he nodded. “One of the Silent Knight teams is going the long southern route to get around the Duluth raiders to check the pass. If possible they will retake the defenses for as long as possible, cutting off the raider army. The other team will pass through the pass if possible, scout the area, and use explosives to cause an avalanche or two blocking the main road through the valley pass, making it harder to get through, and then reinforce the ones holding the defenses. They all have muskets too,” he said quietly. He smiled. What he didn't tell her was that each of the thirty men team may have two spare mounts, each loaded with gear, but they were going to be cut off with only those supplies. They might well be on a suicide mission.
She nodded. “But not much ammo or powder. Not enough to hold out for long if they are attacked,” she murmured.
He sighed so much for her not guessing. “No, they need to move fast so they have to travel light. Hopefully they'll do some good. Sniping from the walls should discourage anyone from trying to get too close to the wall.” He nodded as they passed a courtier. He waited till they were out of earshot.
“We're already working on a relief mission. We need that smokeless gunpowder sorted out so we can start producing modern rounds in quantity though. I've got the town copper smiths making more molds as well as the lead and brass parts now. We've got thousands of rounds and casings but your chemistry project is holding up the works.”
Charlie whistled. “Impressive, you don't want much do you?” she asked wryly. She wasn't at all happy about making gun cotton in quantity. That damn shit was dangerous. He smiled and spread his hands.
“You're going to bottleneck when we run out of raw material you know that right?” she asked dubious.
He frowned. “Yeah,” he sighed leaning against a wall. He waited for a pair of giggling maids to pass. “Yeah, that's a problem. The Queen has a volunteer drive going to donate materials, but it's a drop in the bucket. We've got to get more advanced mining tools in the hands of the miners, and more advanced transports out... not to mention roads... Gah!” He threw his hands up in the air. “We’ve got a better cement plant now, but we don't have accelerants, so it takes forever to dry! We've got some roman style roads, but none leading to the mines... it's so frustrating.”
Charlie patted his arm. “We'll deal with it, one thing at a time.”
<==={}------------>
“Three to Six can you come here?” the Master Sergeant called over the team net.
Ryans looked up and then down to the ear piece in his pocket. The call repeated itself. He pulled the earpiece out and put it on. “Sure as soon as I know where here is,” Ryans answered. He was annoyed with himself for forgetting to put the earpiece back on. He wondered if Charlie had remembered to put hers back on. Of course it had made for a quiet day. He'd gotten better at understanding the natives and fortunately he'd been immured in his quarters for the past hour going over paperwork.
“Garage. Or where it used to be,” Waters said turning a glower at the back of Max.
“Sure thing. Just let me put on my rain gear and get my rubber ducky,” Ryans said. Waters eyed the rain storm outside and then shook his head.
“Ah hell,” he sighed then waited patiently.
“What's up Sarge?” Ryans asked coming up behind him twenty minutes later.
“How... I thought...” The Sergeant said looking over to him.
“Oh I came through the back door,” He waved to indicate the door at the end of the long narrow warehouse.
“They're certainly progressing,” Ryans observed. He turned to view the workers assembling various pieces of a building. Two teams were working on what looked like truss segments while another was working on sections of wall. A fourth team was working on what looked like work benches. Another team was making carriages for artillery.
The men and women were natives, all using Terran tools or Terran designed tools and equipment to assemble the parts they were working on. A couple of teams had blocks and tackle set up to move lumber. A few just used their backs.
“Now that we've got the hang of things it's moving a lot quicker and smoother,” Max said with pride. “Never thought they'd take to this so quickly. It's using a lot less material, half what a building its size would usually need. Wish we could make more plywood, it'd be a big dent too.” He scowled. “We've used up all the plywood in the area and the other projects suck up the new stuff as soon as it's dried. Hang on a sec, back in a minute,” he said holding up a finger and going off to a native who was waving to him. From the red hat the guy had on he was some sort of foreman.
“This the problem
I take it?” Ryans asked turning to Waters who scowled and nodded. “I take it you’re not happy about this for some reason?”
“The vehicles seem to have been evicted,” Waters growled. “We need to get them secure.” He waved to indicate the warehouse. Ryans looked around and nodded.
“I realize that,” Max said coming up behind them. They turned to him. “But your team was out on maneuvers and the LAVs are out on raids or running convoy escort for the trucks. Since it's raining cats and dogs out there...” he pointed to the rain outside, “or the local equivalent critters, I brought the team in to do what they can so the schedule doesn't slip any more than it already has. We've been making good time. Shouldn't take much longer.”
“Ah,” Ryans nodded. That was true, three quarters of the vehicles were now out and about, and only the civilian vehicles were here in the city. The camper and science vehicle and one hummer were stationed at the keep. That left the other hummer, the Strykers, the EMT hummer, the engineering hummer, the deuces not out running supplies, and the tractor trailer trucks here. “Did you get the fuel system set up?”
Max nodded. “Yup. Even got the new tanks in the ground. Tank one is filling now. Bladders too, and we've even got some sealed barrels and a couple of brick cisterns if we get overflow,” Max said sounding smug.
“Good,” Waters nodded grudgingly. “We're low.”
“Yeah, I didn't like traveling on fumes either. We only had a couple of gallons for each vehicle when we got here. Now we're fully restocked and we've even got a surplus,” Max said grinning.
“So what's all this?” Ryans asked indicating the work. Max and Waters turned.
“Well, those two trusses are the last bits for the factory down the street. The carriages I think you can figure out. Their roof was leaking so I shifted them here.” He pointed to each group in turn and then finally to the last. “That group there is working on the walls to the new barracks,” Max said. He turned to Waters. “You know, the new ones you've been harping about?”
“Ah,” Ryans said nodding. “And the others?” He indicated the group working on the work benches and what looked like a chute.
“For the new machine shop, lumberyard, and factory.”
“What's the factory for by the way? Ball bearings?” Water's asked sounding disgusted.
“No, believe it or not it's a giant complex to build other buildings,” Max replied looking a little sheepish. He grimaced as a water droplet dribbled near the wall. “This here isn't exactly waterproof; none of the buildings in town are for that matter.” He grimaced again as a guy with a screw gun started working on a piece near them. “Let’s just say tar paper made its way onto my list,” he said.
“See, I remember from home that when you build stuff, like buildings say...“ he jerked his thumb to the work around them, “in a factory you've got a lot less wastage, it goes together ten times faster, and it's easier to set up.”
“Ah,” Ryans nodded. He knew what Max was talking about. The big machinist had a point. “So you’re building a place so you won’t be in here.”
“And the warehouse next door,” Max nodded. “Your vehicles can sit out in the courtyard Sergeant, they won’t melt. The windows are all rolled up and the doors locked. Get someone to ride herd on them till we're done. Won’t be more than a couple of days I promise,” he said hands up.
“We need to check Stryker four, her tranny is slipping,” the Sergeant said.
Max nodded and pulled out his tablet. “Okay, got it. It's on my to do list. I'll work on a pit somewhere so we can get easier access to her undercarriage. In the meantime have the driver pull her computer diagnostic file and squirt a copy to me,” he said.
“You can do that?” Water's asked surprised.
“Sure, these things are state of the art,” Max grinned. “We can check it and adjust it with a couple of taps of a mouse even from here,” he held up his tablet. “Damn things are so horridly complex it's the only way to do it. Makes life a lot easier when something goes buggy... unless it's the computer itself,” he said shaking his head.
“All right,” Waters nodded. “I'll get Scooter on the tranny and see if we can scare up a guard force,” he said grudgingly. He turned in a perfect about face and moved off into the rain. Ryans watched him go.
“Don't worry about marines, they love the water. They're like ducks in it as long as it ain't cold. Ain't no biggy,” Max said watching him. Ryans turned to him.
“We'll get out of his hair, what little there is of it soon enough.”
“I know Max,” Ryans nodded.
<==={}------------>
Doc checked in with the King and found Ryans visiting. They were playing chess. The King was amused and amazed to be using an electronic board. He was sitting up and looking much better. When the King narrowly beat him Ryans smiled. “Good game your majesty, I'll have to pin your ears back some other time,” he bowed slightly to the King who was now tired.
“I think his majesty needs some rest now. Besides, his lunch is here,” Doc pointed to a waiting cook. Cassius rolled his eyes.
“We'll have to have a rematch sometime soon sir,” Ryans smiled to the King who smiled as well.
“I look forward to it,” he said smacking his lips and looking pointedly to the cook. Ryans smiled and backed away.
Out of earshot Doc asked. “Why are you playing a game? Wasn't it you who said you had better things than fooling around?”
He shrugged. “Even I need a break Doc, but this served several purposes,” he said, looking around to make sure the guard stationed at the door was out of earshot. She gave him a you better come clean look. He shrugged.
“It gave me an opportunity to brief the King in a relaxed manner, making him feel like he's still in the loop and improve his morale.”
She froze and then nodded slowly. “And another?” she asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion. She wasn’t happy about stressing the King but she understood anxiety and frustration would do more damage than a properly worded briefing would.
He smiled. “I was checking his mental acuity.”
She frowned and then caught on. “He won. So he's still got it.” Ryans nodded. “But you don't,” Sue teased. He laughed softly.
“Even the best lose. This isn't our first game Doc, I beat him twice before,” he said. She nodded.
Princess Deidra came around the corner and then stopped. “Is my father...? I mean, is his majesty okay?” she asked. Her eyes narrowed and her jaw tightened as she saw Ryans.
Doc smiled. “He's fine princess. He's eating his lunch now,” she said. She motioned to the alcove near the window. Deidra looked around the corner. Her father was eating a from a plate. The sun was shining in, making the silverware sparkle. “Good. Mother was concerned,” she said grudgingly. Her father hadn't had much of an appetite since his illness had struck. She turned on Ryans.
“I heard you had an interesting conversation with...Charlie is it? The chemist?” she demanded intently. Doc gave her an amused look. Ryans blinked then sighed.
“I was hoping we were discrete,” he said. Both women's eyes narrowed at that statement. Deidra had her hands on her hips, Doc's hands moved to cross her chest then to her pockets. She looked down and away, suddenly feeling like she was intruding.
“Did they overhear much?” Ryans asked suddenly intent. The princess looked furious, but then confused.
Deidra blinked at him. “I ah...” He looked at her. “I... not that I know of.”
He sighed in relief. “Good. Perry will have my hide if I spilled the beans and it got out. The mission's too important to get intercepted because I forgot to keep my mouth shut,” he grumbled, angry with himself. He sighed at the futility of that and shook his head putting the frustration aside.
“You were briefing Charlie about an op?” Doc asked. He looked at her then to Deidra.
“Ah, yeah, hello, wasn't that what we were talking about?” He looked at the princess. “I thought you were calling me on the carpet
about loose lips and all that,” he said shaking his head. “I promise to be more careful in the future,” he said, holding up his hands. She blinked.
“Princess why don't you go check on your dad while I go check on my other patients. I believe you had another meeting?” Sue asked, giving Ryans a pointed get out of here while the getting’s good look and chin nod to the door.
“Ah right, okay... thanks for reminding me,” he nodded, catching the hint and left.
“Jealous princess?” Sue murmured as he left. She blushed. “Not everything is what it seems. I don't think he's been thinking about anything but the war right now. Hell I don't think he's got the energy to play the field. I know I don't,” she sighed letting the princess restore her mental balance on her own. Deidra nodded as her expression cooled to normal. She smiled.
“Well, the good news is you kept him off balance. That's always something to enjoy princess,” Sue said smiling. “Give your dad a kiss. Let him know you care. I'll see you later,” she said. She bobbed a nod and then walked off.
<==={}------------>
The King got antsy to leave the next morning. Sue wanted him to rest more, and do light exercise. Unfortunately he was confined to that small area because she didn't want him on stairs. The strain would cause too much damage to his already severely stressed heart.
She quietly confided in the Queen and Ryans that the King needed major heart surgery, something she wasn't prepared for with the limited gear they have. “Oh I have a laparoscope. Two actually, but they aren't the scale I need. Max and I could rig something up to go in and clean up some of the plaque, but if we dislodged a big enough piece it could go downstream and block something, killing it or him. Like a muscle, an organ... or up to the brain and cause a massive stroke,” she explained. She carefully left out the already damaged and strained heart tissue. She would be very surprised and gratified if the King lasted to the end of the year. Every day was a blessing as far as she was concerned. The Queen eyes became fearful.
