Caliphate

Castle Honsvang, Province of Baya, 13 Muharram,

1538 AH (24 October, 2113)

Hans stood at attention in front of his corbasi. "Sir, the security around the castle could be much improved," he said.

As an initial matter, the colonel was inclined to be unpleasant over someone telling him that his own arrangements were inadequate. On the other hand, he had been somewhat distracted. He decided to hear the young odabasi out.

"Speak."

"There are two things, sir, that I think we can do. One is that the boys have become stale, doing nothing but standing guard. I think we should take . . . I should take, one to three platoons at a time out and train them in janissary skills that have become . . . slack."

"And?"

"There is no reason that the space between the wire obstacles cannot be mined," Hans said. "That's the second thing."

The colonel thought about that. He agreed wholeheartedly about the training suggestion. It was so refreshing to have a young officer with some initiative. He was less enthusiastic about the mines, given how often the American renegades staggered back to the castle drunk. He said as much.

"Command armed and optionally command detonated," said Hans. "We can ordinarily leave them disarmed and harmless, and only arm them if there is ever an attack on the facility."

"Well . . . " the colonel agreed, "we do have a fairly liberal ammunition budget that we've hardly ever touched. I approve, young odabasi. Start your training program and start improving the defenses."