Commonality Games (The Gladiator Cycle Book 1)

by Mark Rounds

  The rest of the night passed uneventfully, even if not everyone slept untroubled.

  Chapter XIII

  Looking across a cluttered planning table Warlord Montgomery mused, "It is unfortunate that your agent is no longer with our opponents."

  "The events that took place during his diversion were not foreseen," countered Sokolov.

  "Still, he did accomplish his mission. After an incident like that, morale must surely suffer. See that he is well compensated.

  "By the way, will he be in condition to join us in the command vehicle?" asked Monty.

  "Surely, sir, that would violate the Cannons of the Game," said a horrified Sokolov.

  "Oh, a little cash and I think we could get him assigned noncombatant status or something,” said Monty. “Maybe, technical advisor? Yes, I like that, a technical advisor he will be. After all, our equipment is somewhat unfamiliar to us."

  “The Gaming Commission is your problem” said Sokolov diffidently. “If you can pull the wool over their eyes in this manner, our man will be there."

  On the wall, there was a holographic projection of the game map. Monty rose from the table and walked over to the projection.

  "What is your opinion, Colonel, of the upcoming battle?” said Monty. “How does their plan mesh with ours?"

  "In spite of those exceedingly fast Hellcat tank destroyers you acquired for us,” said Sokolov grudgingly, “the opponent's motorcycle troops will have one to three minutes unmolested on the objective, depending on the quality of the terrain.”

  "I intend to counteract this advantage somewhat," said Monty. "The Russian soldier has a long tradition of riding on the exterior of an armored vehicle into combat, dismounting when they come under fire. I intend to send one Hellcat loaded with an infantry fire team down that road. Hopefully, a quick assault can distract the cadets long enough for the rest of our forces to get into the action."

  "Warlord that would be suicide for the troops riding on the outside if they are caught in the open by any kind of machine gun fire,” said Sokolov. “None of the experienced troops will put up with it."

  "Use some of the recruits then,” said Monty testily. “They don't have to live very long. Just long enough to disturb the enemy's plan. Offer large bonuses if you must. I have a couple of other tricks up my sleeve that will nullify their speed advantage."

  "No doubt they have to do with the rather large cash withdrawals from our account before we left earth," countered Sokolov.

  "Business arrangements are my affair, Colonel,” said Monty testily. “You see to your responsibilities and I'll see to mine. You will be glad of my help when game time comes. Besides, bribes to the Commission are not cheap. Now I am sure you have duties to attend to."

  "Yes, your Excellency," said Sokolov as he left the room. But, as he walked away, the Krasni mercenary mused to himself, "He has little care for the safety of anyone but himself. It will be good to watch Yosep remove his limbs … slowly."

  #

  Reveille was at a more reasonable 0800. Funny thing, after two weeks of getting up at the crack of dawn, everyone was up and showered before the horn went off. Chow was real eggs, bacon, sausage, gravy, biscuits, hash browns, and pancakes with real fruit and cream to finish it off. The troopers plowed into it until it hurt and then stumbled out for formation.

  Jeffy called the Legion to attention and then had them sit.

  "Jarl," said Jeffy. "Gather up your light infantry and draw weapons and your cycles. You will jump off for your practice in fifteen minutes. The rest of you will draw weapons and be back here in ten minutes. Sergeants Mason and McIntyre will have your vehicles waiting."

  The Legion hustled off gathering weapons, sensors and laser designators. As the troopers came out of the berthing area, the vehicles were waiting. This was the first time all of the vehicles were together and functioning in one place. The noise of all the engines revving was impressive. Taol and Jeffy tested the radios and talked to all the units.

  The plan was for a pretty basic assault. The armored cars were going to lead and suppress the dug-in light infantry. At the base of the hill, the infantry would deploy. They would assault under the cover of smoke supported by the armored cars and anti-tank section. Taol was briefing the troops when the light infantry took off in a cloud of dust. They all watched as they charged up the hill. There was a little hot dogging at first, but after some rather terse comments from Jarl, everyone got down to business.

  They deployed at the top of the hill and began setting up a ring. For safety reasons, they were not allowed to set off the charges until they had been inspected and everyone was down. For the rest of the Legion, the aggressor force was not allowed to begin the assault until the charges went off and the light infantry was in place.

  Everyone heard the blasts from the fortification charges and then Jeffy came over the radio and cleared the rest to advance.

  The aggressors approached the bottom of the hill. The plan came unglued right before they stopped to set up.

  Jarl's light infantry defenders rippled panzer faust and machine gun fire against the armored cars. One armored car was hit outright, and a couple of vehicle commanders were hit because they hadn't buttoned up.

  "Sorry, Colonel," said the commander of the dead armored car. "Should we pull out and clear the attack lane?" The sensor in the background blaring in the high-pitched squeal that meant you had been hit and killed. The squeal was intermittent if the target was just wounded or disabled.

  "No, stay put," said Taol as an idea hatched in his feverish brain. "You're dead, so act dead."

  Taol switched frequencies and called the reaction force. "Stoltz, can you get your team behind that dead armored car without getting pasted."

  "No problem, Colonel," said Stoltz.

  Over the general frequency Taol told the rest of the armored cars to stop abreast of the "dead" one and pop smoke. The range was a little longer than was optimum, but it would do. The drivers opened their hatches and threw out several smoke grenades. In a few seconds, nothing was visible except the incapacitated machine. Most of the light infantry's fire shifted to Stoltz's infantry which was deploying behind it. By using the armored car as cover, they were able to set up without being hit.

  Stoltz had her infantry dismount the two MG-34's on the halftrack and deployed them on the ground around the toasted armored car. Soon they were delivering enough covering fire to keep the light infantry occupied. As they were well out of grenade range, Stoltz's infantry was about as safe as it could be using the armored car as cover.

  Meanwhile, Taol revamped the plan over the general frequency.

  "Now, I want everyone to break out of the smoke at the same time," he continued over the radio. "Armored cars and anti-tank tracks, I want you to fan out behind the smoke and set up fire lanes. Then just pull out of the smoke and provide fire support.

  "Then I want the infantry to deploy and begin an infantry assault as we break out of the smoke. If you bog down, pop smoke and we will set up and do it again.

  "Is everybody ready?" said Taol over the general frequency. There was a ragged chorus of yes's and affirmatives over the radio.

  "Alright, let's go!"

  It took a couple of seconds for Jarl's defenders to adjust their weapons to fire at the assaulting troops. That was all it took. The three remaining armored cars opened up with machine guns and 20mm automatic cannons and laid down devastating cover fire. Taol called to the drivers of the infantry halftracks and the command group and had them move up to the edge of the smoke and engage with their vehicle mounted MG-34's, further adding to the fire power against the troops at the top of the hill.

  As infantry edged up the hill, they received very little fire. Every time the defending troops put their heads above the edge of their holes, several weapons would begin firing. These weapons were largely inaccurate, but they sure spoiled the aim of the defenders.

  The anti-tank section fired simulated high explosive rounds in an effort to dislodge t
he fortifications. Even the simulators were very impressive, flashing a bright white light on impact to set off any nearby sensors. However, because of the high velocity of the round and the low angle from which the weapon fired, they were nearly useless. Most shots carried over the top of the hill and hit the edge of the practice area.

  It was obvious that the attacking infantry was taking some casualties, but it looked like the rest of action would be a piece of cake. Then Jarl remembered some of his lessons.

  He had his defending troops begin rolling grenade simulators down the hill. They didn't have to expose themselves to the assaulting force’s suppressive fire and they were beginning to have an effect. The grenades weren't exploding very close to the attacking troops, but they were affecting morale. They would explode with the familiar white flash of a simulator charge and everyone on the hill would duck.

  It was obvious the infantry assault was stalling out. Worse, Taol had no radio communication with the troops on the ground. There was no way he could get them to pop smoke.

  Then Taol remembered the anti-tank halftracks carried a few smoke rounds.

  "Sergeant Mason,” said Taol into the radio, “put some smoke rounds in the dead zone between us and the light infantry. We need to get the infantry to stop and regroup," said Taol.

  "Right Sir," he answered.

  Soon four puffs of whitish smoke billowed in the space between the opposing forces. The infantry moving up the hill was a little confused at first but then realized what was going on and popped their own smoke. Jarl's defenders continued to fire through the smoke. The beams from the laser designators on their weapons became visible through the smoke like sparks off a stone.

  Under cover of that smoke the attackers regrouped and moved up again. The range was very short and the light infantry's panzer fausts were deadly against the attacking vehicles. They used up all their missiles but took out both of the anti-tank tracks, two of the three remaining armored cars, and a couple of the infantry halftracks as well.

  This time the aggressors were within their grenade range. They took the first licks because you can throw a grenade further downhill than you can throw one uphill and they took several casualties in closing but were finally able to score with their own grenades as the range closed. Infantry on the attacking side was getting scarce, so Taol gathered up the headquarters troops and led them up the hill to assist in the final infantry assault.

  The first wave of infantry was already lobbing grenades into the light infantry's positions when Taol arrived with his headquarters troops. It was then that Jarl's troops popped their own smoke.

  #

  The situation for the light infantry defenders on the hilltop was very grim. Intense fire from the attacking forces had caused severe casualties. Out of the twenty-four light infantrymen who had started the battle, only twelve were left. In addition, stocks of ammunition were low. Grenades and panzer faust rounds were completely expended.

  Jarl, Haloran, and a trooper named Dietz were conferring in a fox hole.

  "I think we have about had it," said Haloran. The dirt and bruises didn't hide the fact that she was female. In fact, the grime gave her a French Revolution kind of sensuality that was hard to ignore.

  "I don't like to talk that way, but I can't see any way to delay them either," said a normally taciturn Dietz. "Ammo is low and morale is lower. We would need some kind of miracle, you know, like the headquarters staff going berserk and attacking the infantry from behind or something."

  Haloran leaned over and gave Dietz a big kiss on the lips and then said excitedly, "we'll do just that!"

  "What do you mean?" asked Jarl. Dietz couldn't say anything. He was too busy blushing.

  "The smoke is pretty thick down there isn't it?" she said.

  "Well, yeah. But what does that have to do with it?" said Jarl still looking perplexed. "The bad guys are past the worst of it and can see well enough to shoot at the top of the hill. We can't even get onto the holes closest to the edge without fear of being grenaded."

  "We have a couple of smoke grenades left right?" she asked hurriedly.

  "Sure," said Dietz who had, by now, resumed some of his normal composure. "I've got two, myself."

  "Great, let's pop them close enough to provide some cover. Then we can sneak into the enemy concentrations and cause some confusion and hopefully some cross firing as well."

  "I like it," said Jarl. "I'll tell the others what we are doing."

  "Don't," said Dietz regaining his composure. "If we are going to do it, it has to be now. Ten minutes of briefing and their infantry will be all over us. It has to be now or never."

  "Right, let's get to it,” said Jarl as he reached down and grabbed the smoke grenade on his harness. He pulled the pin and lobbed it lightly toward the lip of the hill. Dietz did the same with his two grenades.

  As soon as the grenades had gone off, the three of them low crawled over the lip of the hill. It wasn't hard to pinpoint the infantry and the headquarters unit which behind and to the left of the main body. The new smoke had caused some confusion so there was a fair amount of shouting as the units got organized.

  Jarl worked his little force down the hill until he thought he was between the two groups. They took cover behind a little bump and oriented themselves. Jarl tapped Dietz on the shoulder and pointed in the direction of the headquarters group.

  Dietz nodded and took aim. Jarl tapped Haloran's shoulder and looked up the hill toward the light infantry and smiled. The three troopers began firing almost at the same time. It took a couple of bursts, but soon both sides were firing indiscriminately at one another. Jarl and company silently left and continued to sneak down the hill.

  #

  Things got very confused. The smoke made recognition difficult. Taol thought he could make out the rest of the attacking infantry taking cover in a hollow just to the right. Then he noticed that incoming fire from the general direction of what Taol thought was the attacking infantry. The headquarters troops returned fire automatically.

  "CEASE FIRE!" shouted Taol.

  But no one heard. The incoming fire stopped for a second and Taol thought it was over, and then one of the headquarters troopers let loose with a full clip in no specific direction. Instantly, the headquarters unit was engulfed in fire from two directions.

  "TAKE COVER and CEASE FIRE!" yelled Taol, but it was lost in the confusion. The aggressors took twenty percent casualties in the first fusillade and it got worse from there.

  Taol finally got what was left of the headquarters section to stop shooting by using the field expedient of hitting them on the helmets with the butt of his MP-38.

  As soon as the firing from rear echelon side stopped, NCO’s began popping orange recognition smoke. It turned murky when it combined with the gray smoke Jarl's light infantry was using, but gradually the rest of the attacking troops stopped firing when they saw the orange tinged smoke.

  The aggressors were still receiving considerable fire from the hill top and were so demoralized that no one bothered to fire back.

  Taol grabbed Harm and hollered in his ear.

  "Get the halftracks and armored cars up the hill,” said Taol, “We need to get the momentum back, pronto. And send up Stoltz and the Reaction Force. I need some fresh troopers to get things going again."

  Harm headed back with a couple of headquarters troops as escort. No telling where Jarl's light infantry was now.

  Taol, with Jeffy’s help started to get everyone back on line. First, he wheeled up and down the attacking infantry position thumping people and getting them to fire. This was not as dangerous as it sounds. The smoke made all the incoming fire inaccurate as hell. The combination of seeing their commander out in the open and his not so gentle ‘love taps’ got everyone at least firing in the general direction of the light infantry. Meanwhile, Jeffy was working the radio and got the vehicle crews under control.

  As soon as everyone loosened up and began firing, Jeffy was able to select target areas. This
reduced the amount of incoming fire. Taol wasn't vain enough to think they had hit anybody, but all those beams from the laser designators were making people duck.

  #

  After crawling through the smoke Jarl, Haloran, and Dietz took cover a little outside the attack lane. They could see the armored car and the remaining halftracks from the bushes in which they had taken cover.

  "Damn, if we had that 222, we could clean up," whispered Dietz.

  "Damn right," said Haloran.

  "OK then, let's start working up to the armored car," said Jarl. "We might get lucky."

  They had hardly gotten out of their hiding place when Harm and his two headquarters troopers showed up.

  "Damn, infantry on the ground," whispered Jarl. "Let's get back to the bushes."

  But it was too late. Harm had spotted the troopers through the haze.

  "Look, over by that bush," shouted Harm as he brought his MP-38 to bear. He didn't get a chance to fire a round before the gunners on the halftracks opened up. They caught Haloran immediately, Harm could hear the buzzer from her laser sensor going off even over the intervening fifty meters. She hammed it up and died very elaborately, taking almost a minute.

  Harm and the headquarters troops applauded the acting. Haloran got up and curtsied daintily in the direction of the infantry before she headed off to the berthing area.

  Haloran's dramatic death allowed Jarl and Dietz to scamper back into the brush. They didn't get a chance to rest, because the gunners caught on to Haloran's act and began probing the brush with machine gun fire. Dietz got hit shortly afterwards. He swore violently and headed toward the barn.

  Jarl, seeing the end was near, jumped up and attacked. He ran at a dead sprint, screaming at the top of his lungs, and firing wildly at the halftracks. It almost worked. He unnerved the gunners for a second and got within ten meters. But he ran out of ammo in his clip just as Harm's MP-38 came to bear. A short three round burst and Jarl's sensor was squealing.