by Mark Rounds
"God Damn it!" he exclaimed as he slung his weapon.
"You got it soft, Jarl," shouted Harm. "You can go get some rest while we have to run up that hill."
Jarl grinned at Harm and silently headed back for the berthing area, deep in thought.
#
"What took you guys so long?" Taol asked as Harm flopped down next to the command track.
"We ran into a little interference coming back up the hill," said Harm. "Jarl tried to ambush us on the way back up as we entered the smoke. The vehicle mounted machine guns pasted him and his troops before he could fire ten rounds."
"Didn't he use any grenades?" Taol asked.
"No, or we would have been in a lot worse shape,” said Harm. ”I don't think they had any left."
"That's great!” said Taol, “Let's hit 'em now."
Stoltz was ordered to deploy in the center to lead the assault. Taol briefed the drivers to stay with the attacking force providing support. Jeffy briefed the vehicle gunners to fire at any possible target and not to spare the ammo. Harm broke into the stores in the halftracks and refreshed everyone's ammunition and grenade supply. Taol didn't think his forces on the attack had recovered enough moral fortitude to assault in a slow measured way so his plan was to just hammer them hard and fast and get it over with.
Jeffy worked the radios meanwhile and called the vehicle commanders. When everyone was on the air, Taol came on and briefed then on the plan. When everyone understood, they moved out.
The rest was an anti-climax. There was little more than a fire team holding the top of the hill. The combined weight of the assaulting infantry and the supporting fire from the vehicles toasted every position before they could fire. The attackers didn't lose a man in the final assault.
The attacking force returned to the berthing area tired and dirty, but exultant. Jarl and most of his troops were already there, drinking coffee and relaxing. Amazingly enough, the entire exercise had taken less than forty-five minutes. As soon as all the troops from both sides settled down Jeffy conducted the critique.
“That was well done by both teams," Jeffy said with a smile. "Jarl, your team held out for over forty minutes despite being outnumbered by four to one. Your diversionary counter attack was masterful, both in execution and timing. You were able to use the fog of war to your advantage.
“Colonel Ubner, despite the fact that your assault stalled not once but twice, you remotivated your team and took a heavily fortified objective. Your whole team discovered that morale is more critical than weight of arms. At the end of the battle, you outnumbered the light infantry by over eight to one, yet they kept you at bay.
“In the real battle, Jarl's light infantry will have to hold for perhaps ten minutes against what we hope is an uncoordinated assault. The plan is such that we will never have to assault a hilltop position like that. But then, as every soldier knows, no battle plan survives contact with the enemy.”
“So much for what went right. What went wrong?" said Taol. As usual in these sessions, no one would speak up at first. So, he plowed in himself.
"I lost control of the assault several times,” said Taol reluctantly. “Every time the infantry hit the ground they were on their own. I had to resort to some pretty drastic measures to get their attention."
There were some chuckles over that. A few heads still smarted over the knocks Taol gave their helmets to get them to pay attention.
"Good point," said Sergeant Jefferson. "What can we do about it?"
"Are there any ground mobile radios that are historically accurate that we can use?" said one of the infantry team leaders. "Those smoke rounds were a little close."
"The Germans did employ a back-pack radio,” said Harm. “But it was large and took some time to set up. They also used field phones extensively. When we purchased equipment, I didn't think either would be of much use."
"You were right," said Jeffy reassuringly. "Radio operators would just be targets for the Krasni and having them would single out the ground commanders."
One of the gun crewmen spoke up. "Couldn't we use some sort of color coded smoke, you know like you did when we all started shooting at each other? You know like red for stop, green for go, orange for cease fire and so on?"
"Good idea," said Taol enthusiastically. "Harm, can we make that work?"
"Sure,” said Harm, “I can add some impurities to the white smoke we normally carry and come up with pretty much any color we want."
"Great, do it,” said Taol. “Get a code sheet ready as soon as this critique is over,"
"What about the ammunition problem?" said Jarl. We were out of grenades, panzer faust rounds, and almost out of 9mm submachine gun ammo."
"The plan is to resupply you from the headquarters section halftracks," said Jeffy.
One of the troopers in the first armored car to be hit spoke up. "We know what happens to plans."
After the laughter broke up Jarl continued, "I'd like to add one panzer faust round, four grenades, and a hundred rounds of 9mm to each troopers' basic load, at least for the light infantry."
"I don't want to up the basic load that much," said Jeffy. "Speed is our friend getting up the hill. Much more load on those cycles and we will have to get out and push."
That got some more laughs.
"I've got the cycle that we have been using as a spare,” said Sergeant Mason. “What if we split up one of Jarl's teams? That would give us two empty side cars. We could get maybe a hundred, hundred and fifty kilos more stuff up the hill."
"I like it," said Jarl. "That way the reserve stores could be placed back a little bit, out of the line of fire. I spotted one other thing that went wrong. The first part of the counter attack went well, but later, when I tried to hit the relief column, we were totally ineffective. What did I do wrong?"
"Nothing really, Jarl," said Jeffy. "The aggressiveness you showed was commendable but attacking an armored column with small arms fire is an empty gesture at best. You just didn't have the weaponry needed to be effective against them. You could have done more damage to the attackers by letting them pass and sniping at them as they set up for their attack."
Obviously, Jarl was taking it all in. The failed ambush on the hill really bothered him. He wasn't about to be taken out so easily next time.
And so, everyone continued for the next hour, refining the battle plan. Taol discovered that it was a good idea to include the troopers in this critique. They saw things Jeffy and the rest of the NCO's missed. As soon as everyone understood that this was not a session to hammer those troopers who made mistakes, the ideas began to flow freely.
Finally, they wrapped it up.
"I want everyone to break down their weapons and clean them, REAL CLEAN," said Jeffy. "I also want you to take out the blank adapters and laser flashers. The next time we use them, it will be for real. When you have finished, report to your units, we will begin loading our vehicles for bear, RUSSIAN BEAR!"
Everyone cheered and rushed off to the berthing area to get cleaned up. Taol went back and began breaking down his weapon. One of the troopers grabbed the weapon from him and finished the task.
"I'll handle this sir," he said.
“I can clean my own weapon,” said Taol with a smile, “but thanks."
"No, really, I want to do it,” said the young man. “You probably have a lot more important things to do. It will be ready when you need it."
So Taol relinquished the weapon with good graces and headed for the conference room. It suddenly occurred to him that before this all started; he was just one of the guys, another anonymous cadet. Now, he was being treated like a "real" officer. The change was scary.
It stroked his ego a little, but it also felt lonely. A month ago, he could have gone drinking beer with any of these troopers, even the one who was now cleaning Taol’s weapon. Now, he was all alone. Even Jeffy, his Sergeant Major and mentor, treated him with respect and a little distance.
Taol understood his dad better than he ever
did growing up. Bernard wasn't cool and distant just to aggravate him. Taol could imagine what years of this kind of responsibility and treatment could do to his personality. Taol decided to talk with him when this was all over and see if they couldn't mend some fences or something. That is, if he lived through tomorrow’s fun and games.
When Taol arrived, Jeffy, Jarl, and Harm were already poring over the map, trying to plan the emplacement of the units for the big day.
"The south side of that hill looks pretty bare," said Harm. "I wonder if we shouldn't do something about that."
“Like what?" said Jarl.
"Well, understand that this is only if you have time, mind you, but couldn't you put three or four cratering charges fairly close together, and scrape out a hole big enough to partially hide an armored car or an anti-tank halftrack. That way, it would almost be like having armor since the enemy would have to dig dirt to get at most of the vehicle."
"Good idea Harm," said Jeffy. "Why don't you grab a couple of troopers and a halftrack and give it a whirl."
"I like it," exclaimed Jarl. "I'll go with you."
That left Taol alone with Jeffy. He wanted to spill his guts and tell Jeffy about all his own perceived inadequacies and why this was a bad idea and how they should call the whole thing off. Somehow though, Taol knew in his heart, that it would be bad form. For good or ill, he was in charge and he would make the decisions. Instead, they talked out some of the details of the upcoming battle.
Taol wondered if this loneliness was why obviously high powered troopers like Jeffy and the rest of the career NCO's never tried to become officers. Jeffy could be a Warlord in a couple of years with his experience. Yet, he left Taol in the hot seat.
His reverie was interrupted by a couple of dull thumps followed by some verbal abuse directed at one of the halftracks.
"God damn gutless wonder!" shouted Jarl
Jeffy and Taol rushed out to see an Sdk 251 half in and half out of a big crater. Apparently, the halftrack could get in fine but getting out was another story.
Sergeant Tierney had heard the commotion and had come to add his own interjections.
"Damn it, Major,” he said with vehemence, “these things aren't goats. There is no way you can get that track out of that hole. Whose idea was it to try this anyway?"
"Mine sergeant," Taol said sheepishly. "We were trying to think a way to hide these behemoths."
"You could just ask the question, Sir," said Tierney. "I can whip up a little mat of cratering charges that will make a more gradual incline. Dig a hole just the way you have done here and then lay my mat out behind it. Physics and plastic explosive will do the rest. Hell, I'm going to have to do it anyway just to get this thing out of here.
Major, do me a favor and drive that thing back into that hole so I can get started."
"I'll help them build the mat, Sarge," said Jeffy. "You've got enough on your mind getting these cranky old vehicles combat ready without worrying about how to dig a hole. The experience will do these officers a world of good."
So Harm, Jarl, Jeffy, and Taol spent the next half an hour rolling little balls of explosive. Then Jeffy had them sort said balls by size. Then he wired up a neat little detonator to each ball and put them in little cloth bags.
Next he linked them by wires. The newly minted officers measured the lengths and added coils of wire to make sure they went off in order, starting at the edge of the hole. Jeffy had them use some stiffer wire to make the shape of a rough rectangle. Then, under Jeffy’s watchful eye, they clipped and soldered the bags to the mat. After careful inspection, Jeffy gave them the go ahead. They stretched out the mat behind the hole, weighed down the corners, and wired it up to a switch. Then they all headed for cover.
"Fire in the hole!" shouted Jeffy.
After a couple seconds, he hit the switch. They heard a mixture of cracks and booms that sounded more like fireworks going off than real charges. After the last boom, pop, and fizzle, Jeffy led them out of the slit trench. Behind the track was a really rough ramp.
"Crude, but serviceable," said Jeffy. "Now back this thing out. After the tracks and cycles are loaded and all the weapons cleaned, we'll get all the troops to sit down and make twenty or so of these little items, so we can have one in every track and give the light infantry a few to carry as well."
"Wait a minute," interjected Jarl. "These things are light, but they are two meters wide and four meters long. How will we carry them?"
"No sweat," replied Jeffy. "This stiff wire rolls up and holds its shape. We'll roll them up and strap them on the sidecars. If you have time, you can make the ramps, if not, the vehicle crews can do it."
#
The members of the Condor Legion spent the rest of the day cleaning weapons and loading up their halftracks and various other vehicles. That is, most of the troopers did that. Jeffy and Taol wandered around and inspected and complimented the work.
"Sar Major,” said Taol, as they walked between work groups. “This standing around and watching the other troopers work is making me nuts. Can't we do anything?"
"We are, Colonel,” said Jeffy diffidently. “This little stroll is one of the hardest things you'll do, but it serves a purpose. These troopers are scared, they can't let it show, but they are. We are telling them that they are damn good and doing the right things. By implication, we are telling them that they will survive tomorrow. They need to hear it. It's up to us to take up the stress."
So, they wandered around until supper time, watching, complimenting, and boiling on the inside where nobody could see. Dinner was small and mainly carbohydrate in nature. There was some grumbling about it since the food had been so good after basic. Jeffy got up to explain.
"Sorry about the chow,” said Jeffy. “But I don't want you to be slowed down tomorrow by a full stomach. Breakfast will also be light and starchy for the same reason. Besides, going to battle a little hungry makes you a little meaner."
The troops laughed and made jokes about how we were going to relieve our hunger eating Russian Bear.
Dinner didn't take long and afterwards Taol and several other troopers set to work making explosive mats. The work was absorbing enough that what they were about to do tomorrow didn't intrude too much. Even with everybody involved were only able to turn out about twelve mats before the explosives ran out.
"That ought to do it, troops," said Jeffy. "It is now 2100. Lights Out is at 2130. You will all wear sleep nets set for 0800. That means everyone, including NCO's and officers. I don't want anyone to be too wired to sleep tonight and then too tired to fight at game time."
There were several groans over that last order. The sleep net matched the alpha wave patterns of the wearer’s brain and then fed a low voltage current into your scalp that was exactly opposite these patterns, damping out any disturbing thoughts or emotions. It put you out almost immediately and the sleep was deep, dreamless, and very restful.
The dreamlessness of the sleep was precisely why many people hated it. It was about as close to death as you could come and return. Though no one admitted it, closeness to death was not something anyone wanted to contemplate tonight. As things began breaking up, Jeffy pulled Taol aside.
"There is someone who wants to talk with you before the game tomorrow," said Jeffy quietly. "You can use the conference room."
The look in his eye was not one Taol ever remembered and was concerned that it was a last-minute snag with the Commission over the incident with Duewekscu.
Taol walked into the conference room and saw his father, Bernard, sitting near the head of the table. He was dressed in his full mess dress British officer’s uniform from the (Duke of Cambridge's Own) Middlesex regiment, the unit that his persona that he played in the games actually served with. This was a uniform Taol only remember seeing twice before. Once was at the funeral when his mother died, and the other time was when Taol was nominated for the Academy. To say that Taol was shocked was an understatement.
"Come on in, son. Sit down
," Bernard said quietly.
Taol felt vaguely under dressed in his field khakis as he sat down at the conference table. In front of them was a bottle of very old Scotch whiskey. He poured a glass for each of them and sipped his before he spoke.
"Sergeant Major Jefferson says you have done very well,” said Bernard, “which is high praise indeed. I am still against this in principle, but I am proud of what you have accomplished. Go ahead son, have a drink."
Taol sipped the whiskey expecting the bitter, biting taste that results from the cheap liquor he could afford as a cadet. Instead, the flavor was smooth and warm. This could develop into an expensive, bad habit.
"This little ceremony has been in our family for years,” said Bernard after he sipped his drink. “On the eve of a young man's first battle, when possible, the senior veteran in the family shares some good whiskey and a little conversation with the new soldier. I had a talk like this with your great uncle Johann Ubner. Do you remember him?"
"Only as a very old man, father."
"That's all I remember him as," said Bernard with a laugh. "He was over two hundred and fifty years old when he died. He remembered a time before the Commonality. Being a soldier had more meaning then. It was easier to figure out who your enemies were. Now our military forces are mainly for our pride. Soon, they will be dispensed with as the trappings of a young race.
“I had hoped the Planetary Survey would be the kind of thing that would allow people like you and me to contribute to the greater good. An old man's wish I guess.
“We don't have enemies any more, we have opponents. We don't kill them really dead, next week they're up as good as new. Finally, the only thing we win is a little money, a little fame, and little excitement.
“Jeffy says you made some big promises about using the proceeds of this little venture to get to the stars. Is it true? I'd understand if it was just hype to get the young troopers on your side."
