Forged in Fire (Destiny's Crucible Book 4)

by Olan Thorensen

  Culich wore a thoughtful expression and stroked his beard. “Yozef, are we to understand that the fight can go on for many months? And what does this mean for both us and the Narthani?”

  “The longer it takes, the better for us. Their army is trained for major battles. Here they made a mistake. If they had sent this number of men, but with different tactical experience and structure, we would be in worse shape. The Fuomi tell us the coming army is similar to the smaller one we have already faced—mainly infantry and artillery, with cavalry as support. If I had been them, and knowing what I know, I would have sent more cavalry and horse artillery—with only infantry to garrison towns and important positions. As it is, the longer we avoid major battles, the better for us.”

  “What if they move this army around the island, burning cities and villages along the way? At some point, there will be nothing left,” said a worried Bakalacs.

  “Nonsense,” Yozef snapped in irritation. “What will be left are the only two things that are important, the land and the people. Everything else can be rebuilt and regrown.”

  “So,” said Culich, “if we don’t meet them in battles, then we’re left with your idea of maneuvering until we get them where we have the best chance to win.”

  “I did not say there would be no fighting. We need to harass them every step of the way. Our greater mobility means they can’t force us into a major field engagement unless we allow it. We can ambush patrols, set traps, look for opportunities to cut out small pieces of the whole army and overwhelm it with numbers. Slowly wear them down and draw them deeper into the island and farther from their base at Preddi.”

  The next hour was full of questions from the four hetmen and heated discussions on tactics. They had started to wind down when Yozef brought up a final point.

  “One other thing we need to discuss. What is our objective?”

  “Our objective?” rumbled Stent. “It’s to drive the Narthani from the island.”

  “But what happens if this large army is unable to defeat us and withdraws back into Preddi?”

  “Then we retake most of Preddi,” said Stent forcefully.

  “I think I see where Yozef is headed,” said Culich. “If they pull back into Preddi, their position there may be too strong for us to force them to reboard their ships and leave. They would have supply problems, but Preddi City could still be a base for even more Narthani troops.”

  Bakalacs sat back in his chair. “Which leaves us . . . where? We could not keep all our men in arms indefinitely, to guard the Narthani from expanding again. In addition, they have warships to assist them. If they only hold out a year, more supplies could arrive, along with many more troops.”

  “So you see the problem,” said Yozef. “Even if we deal the new army a serious defeat, they could withdraw back to Preddi City and continue destroying the clans piecemeal, while we raid and threaten. It would be a stalemate, although somewhat in their favor. To secure the entire island, they have to come after us and force battle. We may want to avoid large battles, but they eventually have more resources and would wear us down. Our supplies won’t last forever, and they could prevent planting and harvesting new crops and maintaining herds. We can’t keep a large-enough number of men under arms to hold them inside Preddi City fortifications, so as soon as our numbers get small enough, they can send workers out into the provinces to farm and raise food. If we then gather our total forces again, we are right back to the same situation as before. No. We can’t allow this army to retreat to Preddi. Our goal has got to be to destroy this army to the degree that any troops that remain in Preddi are too few to defend. They will have no choice but to load whatever they can on their ships and sail away.”

  Stent had been listening intently and now gave a grim smile. “Well, I don’t know whether I should be optimistic or afraid. The topic has gone from trying to drive this bigger army back to destroying them instead.”

  “Yozef,” said Culich, “give us your honest opinion. Will we be able to do this?”

  “Yes,” said Yozef softly.

  “Why are you so sure?”

  Now it was Yozef’s turn to smile grimly. “Because we have no choice, and because if there is a God, he has to be on our side.” Oh boy, do I hope so, Yozef thought.

  The War Council Reconvenes

  The War Council met again the next day over the morning meal. The other four men did not know the specific foods were Yozef’s favorites—hot biscuits with butter and fruit preserves, fruits, a kava blend he favored, and cured meats he thought reminiscent of what he called “bacon.” Yozef saw Maera’s hand in this. They would meet again with the entire conclave at midmorning.

  Yozef’s lingering reticence to assume too important a role against the Narthani hung on by only a thread. He saw that he needed to serve as a nucleating point for their planning. All four of the hetmen had many years of shouldering enormous responsibilities in leading their clans and were all far more natural leaders than Yozef felt he could ever be. What they did not have was experience in the logistics and tactics required for such an undertaking. Once an idea or a plan lay in front of them, they could run with it—but they lacked recognition of what was needed. This would change. As they became accustomed to this new way of thinking, Yozef’s input would be less critical. But that lay in the future.

  “It’s imperative that we mobilize every resource as fast as possible. I have several suggestions. All are important, and all need to be done at the same time. A crucial part of this is to centralize planning for each section under the authority of a single person. I suggest we divide the responsibilities into four groupings, Personnel, Operations, Intelligence, and Supply.” Yozef had seen enough war movies, read enough books, and played enough strategy games to remember the four main departments on at least U.S. command staffs. Depending on the size of the units, back on Earth they were named G-1 to G-4 or J-1 to J-4. Here, they would just be called by their functional names.

  “Each of these departments needs to be controlled by one person, and each must have a staff whose members themselves will have responsibilities. Think of it as a tree turned upside-down. At the top is the coordinator, the one who is responsible for achieving the goals of that department. We’ll call that person the director.” Yozef wasn’t asking or suggesting; he was telling and waiting to see how the four hetmen responded to his usurpation.

  “Under the director, the major branches are those that have more specific responsibilities, and on and on down to the leaves, which are the hundreds or thousands of people who do the actual detailed work. It’s best if each coordinator has extensive experience within his department, but we don’t need to have that. I suggest that at least to begin, each of you assume the duties of one of the major tasks: intelligence, gathering and evaluating information; supplies, providing all the material items for fighting and the people; personnel, organizing all the fighting and non-fighting population; and operations, planning and carrying out actions against the Narthani.”

  Bakalacs wore a doubtful expression behind his gray beard and shook his mane of hair. He cut straight to what he saw as a problem with this organization. “I assume this means each task, each director is making demands on all the clans in that area of responsibility. We all know there will be resistance to this. Even if the hetmen have agreed—some reluctantly, of course—to the centralization, the people will not always agree when it comes to the details. Am I to tell Hetman Adris to do something and perhaps he hates all Farkesh?”

  Culich proposed a solution. “Maybe part of your department’s organization includes an Adrisian man of enough prominence that the order comes through him. In this way, the commands are not directly from a Farkesher.”

  Bakalacs grunted acceptance. “That could help, but there will still be resistance.”

  “I believe Culich is correct in his suggestion,” said Yozef. “I would also go further and suggest that the people performing the duties in each task—let’s call them departments—be selected fro
m many different clans, so that the actions of any department are not associated only with that one clan. Culich’s suggestion is good, but it may also be best to appoint men from other clans as your direct subordinates. I realize each of you has people of competence you are familiar with. It is natural and efficient to have some of them on your staffs—just not so many of them that others see the actions from your task as coming from your clan only.”

  “And how do we identify these men from other clans?” asked Stent.

  “Start off with the hetmen here at the conclave. They will all be here for a few more days. They can propose men from their clans who can serve. It will also make each of them feel as if he is directly participating in the plans to see his clansmen in these roles, especially if he had a hand in the initial selection.”

  “What exactly is the responsibility of each department?” asked Stent.

  “One department is intelligence—information about where the Narthani are and what they are doing. I see two parts to this. One is to keep close contact with any army they send out against us. The sooner we know what they’re doing, the more time we have to react. When the Narthani army crosses the Preddi border, assuming we have removed Selfcell and Eywell as enemies, we can figure the Narthani have started their campaign to conquer the island. When that happens, our riders need to keep them in sight and send daily reports on positions and all activities back to a central site. Here in Orosz City would be the logical place.

  “A second part of our intelligence must be to get more information within the occupied provinces. I know individual clans have done some of this in the past, but it needs to be on a larger scale, more targeted to where we need information most, and all information gathered together to make sense of it. We’ve hesitated to do this to prevent the Narthani from knowing anything about our preparations, but with the news about the new Narthani army coming, I think it’s time to make major efforts to have spies. Owill Brell, the head of the Keelan military intelligence unit, has wanted to do this in the past, but I’ve discouraged it. It’s time to turn him loose. Oh, and I think we can change the Keelan MIU’s status to being the core of the intelligence department.”

  Yozef could see that Bakalacs felt uneasy. “Hetman Farkesh. I can tell you are not comfortable with spying. I believe I understand. There is something that seems a little dishonorable about spying on anyone without their knowledge, and I believe I remember passages in the Word that decry secretive behavior. We all prefer to be open. But this is war. It is not life as normal. There is only one rule in war and that is to win. We have to be prepared to do anything it takes to win this war. If we are not so willing, the chances we can win are diminished. And consider the consequences of defeat.”

  Bakalacs shook his head. “I recognize the value of knowing where your enemy is and the size of his forces, but somehow I believe this is not all you mean.”

  “You are correct. We want to know everything about the enemy. What is their supply situation? How many cannon rounds does their army carry for each cannon? Are any of their troops trained to fire their cannon, except those already with the cannon? What are the names of all their leaders, their histories, fears, weaknesses, and strengths? Damn it, I even want to know how many times a day they shit.”

  The latter piece of desired intelligence elicited a welcome guffaw from the group.

  “I know some of this might sound trivial. But what if we knew a Narthani commander was sluggish at making decisions in the morning but alert and intelligent in the afternoon? That piece of information might affect when we engage his command—there being a slight chance he would make more errors when he first awakens than later in the day. What if we knew the Narthani army commander was under pressure to conquer Caedellium on a strict timetable? We could try to tempt him to a quick victory in battles to our advantage. What if we knew the Selfcell people were willing to revolt at a critical time, if they had some support? How would we know this unless we had people living among them? The important thing to remember is that we might not know exactly what pieces of information are most important until we put all the pieces together.”

  Stent acknowledged Yozef’s points with a nod and an open-handed gesture. “You are right. This is a different way of thinking, but I see your points.”

  “And the other departments?” asked Orosz.

  “The department that fights the battles is Operations. You might think that is the most important one, but you would be wrong. Fighting is only the final step, and it cannot be done successfully unless all the other departments do their jobs. We talked about intelligence—knowing our enemy. Now let’s consider Personnel. Who will fight the Narthani? How many? Where from? How organized? Who will lead them? How will they be trained to fight the kind of war we must fight? The answer is the Department of Personnel. It is this department’s task to identify, gather, and train the men to do the fighting. I realize this doesn’t sound like an attractive assignment, but we aren’t seeking glory in this war. We’ll achieve the maximum honor by every person doing the best he can for the good of all, no matter his personal preferences.”

  “Then this should be my department,” said Bakalacs, to the surprise of all. “My gut tells me to lead men into battle, but as I consider the organization you propose, there are others here more suited to other departments than me. Since I must assume responsibility for one, Personnel seems best. For another reason, I know I will have, being a northerner, a totally undeserved reputation for being stern, unyielding, and self-righteous.”

  This last comment was followed by another round of laughter, and Stent gave Bakalacs a hearty slap on the back.

  “Putting together the size of force we’ll need requires men from different clans to work together,” said Bakalacs. “I foresee most of them needing a period of, as Yozef calls it, training. Such training will come easier if it is being mandated by someone they are at least leery of annoying. I think I can fill that role.”

  More laughs.

  Oh, thank God, thought Yozef. These four might be even brighter and more flexible than I’d hoped—to grasp this and some other principles so quickly and run with them. Maybe my input will be less important sooner than I anticipated.

  “A splendid idea, Feren!” Culich exclaimed, rushing to support Bakalacs.

  Culich next offered to lead a department. “If I may propose, I think I can lead the Intelligence Department. If we agree, as Yozef suggests, that the Keelan MIU form the beginnings of a larger intelligence effort, then it seems logical I assume that responsibility. As I see it, that means letting those already doing the work continue, and I’ll work with other hetmen to bring in additional qualified people. And I agree with Yozef’s suggestion on subordinates. I will select several immediate candidates from other clans before we leave here, possibly among the delegations. I know of a couple of hetmen’s sons who actually have brains. I’ll also note that Owill Brell is Adrisian, so my department already includes other clans in important positions.”

  “Well,” said Orosz, “that leaves Operations and Supply. I quiver to think I would have responsibility for commanding an army, or whatever we call all our men, but since Orosz is the central point of our planning, and since the province is centrally located, Supply would naturally fall to me.”

  Four pairs of eyes turned to Stent. There was only one department left—Operations. Stent’s eyes narrowed as he considered it and noted their attention on him.

  “Am I to understand, then, that I might be responsible for the actual fighting against the Narthani?”

  Yozef looked Stent in the eye. “You would be responsible for seeing that the best planning possible is done. It might not mean that you yourself do the planning but that your department comes up with the detailed plans. To see that the best possible plans are made—whoever has the basic ideas. Your department will be the tip of the spear, but it can’t do anything without the departments of Intelligence, Personnel, and Supply.”

  “And your role, Yozef?” asked St
ent.

  “I imagine I’ll have ideas relevant to all departments, particularly intelligence and operations.”

  Conclave Ends

  For the rest of the morning and the afternoon, the full conclave discussed details of what would be expected of each clan. Dissention and arguments cropped up, but in the end the sense of unity of purpose remained. When it came time to adjourn, Hetman Orosz rose from his clan’s group, faced the throng, and called for attention, using the traditional miniature gong. Small as it was, the carefully crafted curved metal plate was tuned to a frequency that cut through any number of human voices. He hit it once. The noise in the room subsided. When he hit the gong a second time, the din receded to a low hum of whispers.

  “Leaders of Caedellium. Yesterday we chose a council to lead against the Narthani. We agreed that Yozef Kolsko be an adviser to the council and be allowed a tie-breaking vote on council decisions, as necessary. Before we close, he has asked to speak to the conclave. I have heard much of what he will say, and I encourage every man here to listen carefully.” Orosz sat down.