Intrepid

34

Lieutenant Kris Longknife stood at the top of the hill and surveyed the work going on below. She, Jack, Gunny, and Peter Tzu had come up here to get a better feel for the terrain. For Kris, this was a first look.

For Peter Tzu, it was unnecessary. He'd built everything within sight by his own sweat, or that of his family.

The head of the Tzu clan fidgeted. His pride in ownership was now replaced by shades of fear. ''This battle of yours. It's not going to destroy everything, is it?''

Gunny looked at the farmer with honest sadness. Jack glanced away. It was left to Kris to admit. ''I don't know. No battle plan survives contact with the enemy. Only a fool will tell you in the morning how a battle will go that afternoon.''

The farmer shrugged. ''Well, at least you're honest.''

Kris took a long moment to survey what her people were up to. The hill where she stood rose gently a hundred meters or so from the narrow flats that cut a small ribbon between the swamp and the beginning of the rolling hills behind Kris. The road sliced through the middle of that bit of flatland, separating the Tzu farm buildings from their rice paddies.

Most locals were quite happy to grow the hybridized grass/grain crop planted once and harvested as often as they came in season. Acres of it covered the hills behind Kris. However, Mr. Tzu, a short man whose face still reflected that his family hailed from old Earth's Asian continent, liked rice.

He'd claimed a holding close to the swamp and laid out some rice paddies. And found a market for a break from the usual. As his clan grew, the paddies expanded along the road and into the swamp. Today, the dikes between the paddies offered Kris some interesting options. Most everyone loved the gophers and the their valuable droppings; Tzu and his clan hated the little rats.

The four-legged beggars loved rice.

A pack of them could eat a rice paddy empty, root and stem, in a day. To keep them under control, the Tzu clan had been forced to dig caves through the centers of their paddy dikes.

The gophers could come tunneling along and burrow right into the caves. There, they'd meet up with the other Tzu import. Mongooses from old Earth prowled both above- and belowground.

The gophers could be mean when cornered. The mongooses seemed to love cornering them. The gophers usually lost.

But for Kris, it meant that she had a whole lot of rice-paddy dikes within easy rifle range of the road just begging to be pierced with loopholes.

Which work parties were now doing with sledgehammers and rods. Others were expanding the cool room under the hill Kris stood on. In an hour, two at the most, they expected to have firing positions popping out of this hill.

Anyone who marched up that road would walk right into a cross fire. And the flats left them with little or no cover.

It would be murder.

''If they walk into it,'' Jack said, reading Kris's mind.

''You think he's had enough of walking into things?''

''You done a good job of teaching him that lesson, Your Highness,'' Gunny said.

Kris snorted. ''I've got more trigger-pullers than this Colonel Cortez, but, except for the Marines, I can't trust any of them to maneuver under fire. If I deploy them in the paddy dikes, in the hill, they can just sit there, firing when I tell them to.''

''I don't remember anyone telling you battles were supposed to be easy on anyone,'' Jack said.

''If you put our people in the paddy caves,'' Peter Tzu observed slowly, ''they won't be able to get away if things go wrong. What are those things … hand grenades …? If they throw a few of them in the caves …'' He ran out of words.

Kris had to put an end to that thought. ''The paddies are at angles to each other.'' She put her hands together to form a ninety-degree angle. ''The rifles on the right keep the enemy off of the dike to the left, and left protects the right. See.''

''I guess so,'' the farmer said dubiously.

''The Marines will be a mobile reserve,'' Kris said. ''They'll move to meet what we're not expecting.''

''And just what are you expecting?'' Tzu asked.

''That they are not going to march up that road in a nice long line, ready to be shot up.'' Kris glanced at Jack and Gunny. They were nodding agreement. ''No, he's not going to do anything the easy way anymore. He's going to be looking for us under every rock and crack. We'll need to cover our tracks real good.''

As if to confirm Kris's guess, Captain Drago came online. The Wasp was overhead early, working its way up behind Thorpe.

''It looks like Cortez has finished his morning tea party,'' he reported. ''They are breaking camp at the dugouts and getting back on the road.''

''What does their travel array look like?'' Kris asked.

''Similar to yesterday's. He's got his light infantry out covering his flank and forming a vanguard. His wagons and heavy infantry make up his main body. Oh, and now they have some of the light infantry riding herd on some of the animals. They didn't eat all of them.''

''It would be hard to eat all we left there,'' Jack said. ''What does their invalid detail look like? Can you see how many of the main body are hobbling, or riding in the carts?''

''Wait one'' was followed in less than a minute with ''Say fifty-seven to sixty-one of them are wounded. That's almost double what he had last night. Looks like he caught moderate casualties taking those dugouts.'' Drago laughed. Gunny and Jack joined in.

Kris grimaced at the lay of the land beneath her. ''Our ambush has a cross fire to it.''

''Yes, Your Highness,'' Gunny agreed, ''but our folks will be under cover, not be out in the open when the shooting starts.''

Peter Tzu just looked more worried by the minute.

''Captain Drago, could you send us a picture of Cortez's troop layout.'' He did.

''Nelly, could you overlay his troop array on the ground before us.''

In a moment, a heliograph appeared in front of them, showing troops in white smocks scattered over the hill in front of them and the rice paddies. Coming up behind them was a main column of armored infantry and wagons. Trailing them were several herd guards wielding long poles as they tried to keep farm stock together. Still, they had rifles slung over their shoulders.

''Do you think they'll stay as spread out? I can't see someone choosing to wade through a rice paddy when he can walk along the dikes.''

''But how do people in the dikes shoot at people on the dikes,'' the farmer asked.

Kris again formed her hands into a right angle. Tzu nodded but still didn't seem convinced.

''We'll need to put rifles in the second, third, and fourth lines of dikes,'' Jack said. Gunny nodded.

''But those hand grenades,'' Tzu repeated.

''If we stack bales of hay or grain at the ends of the tunnels …'' Gunny said.

''They'll catch fire,'' Tzu said.

''But if they absorb the explosion and fragments …'' Kris said.

''It should cut down on the casualties,'' Jack said.

Kris also wanted to examine options for deploying her Marines, but having a civilian in her war council was not going as well as she had hoped. They started down the hill to do what needed doing. She'd talk about the Marines later.

How many battles had she gotten herself into since she joined the Navy?

Too many, a small voice said.

And none went anything like the battles she read about in the history books. Would some professor, from the safety of his dusty ivory tower, match this battle up against historical precedent and make its conclusion look easy and foregone?

Of course, he'd know what Kris and her troops had done. And what had worked. And what hadn't work.

Matters weren't that easy under a hot sun with dust rising from digging shovels. Hindsight was easy. Foresight wasn't.

And the two of them were separated by an agony of distance.

* * *

Cortez had come to hate these little talks with the starship captain who rode so comfortably above it all. The colonel had cut Thorpe off in midresponse when he passed over after they took the ditches. Thorpe hadn't even bothered to call down the next two passes as the troops ate the fruits of their victory.

But now Cortez was moving to what had to be contact. Only after he asked Thorpe for coverage of the next likely ambush point did the starship send down the photos and map.

And Cortez hadn't gotten around to mentioning that the Longknife ship was passing over sooner and sooner after Thorpe's ship. Let him and his ship sensors find out for himself.

Cortez examined the strange arrangement in the swamps ahead of him. Captain Sawyer had identified them as rice paddies.

''People could lurk under the water and come up out of it to shoot at us as we go by,'' Major Zhukov observed.

''And shoot at us from this hill,'' Cortez added.

''It's obviously a good place for an ambush,'' the major agreed, ''but will this Longknife girl do something that obvious? Will her Marine leaders let her?''

''All good questions,'' Cortez agreed. ''That first ambush was an obvious one … and she got away with it. Our breakfast stop was obvious … and she passed on it. She's got to engage us sooner or later. Have you spotted any good ground up ahead?''

Zhukov shook his head. Sawyer shrugged.

''So,'' Cortez concluded, ''she either gives up the last good ambush site, or she doesn't. Either way, I intend to walk into the damn fox trap loaded for bear.''

Cortez studied his map. ''We'll take a break here, a good mile shy of their ambush.'' He thought for a moment. ''Sawyer, your company has handled the vanguard position fine, but I think I want to replace you there with another bunch.''

''Who?''

Cortez knew his grin was pure evil, but he loved it at the moment. ''The gift they gave us. What else?''

* * *

Kris licked her dry lips. It was hot … and she was nervous. She'd done all she could. Now she was just waiting for Cortez to show up.

The Marines had added several refinements to her plan. The sticky net was laid out, ready to take down a chunk of the van. A half dozen of the fastest Marine sharpshooters had been distributed to leaven the local riflemen and -women. They were stationed close to the road and loaded with sleepy darts. Their orders were to concentrate on the light infantry.

The rest of the Marines were held in three reserves. She'd use them to counter whatever surprises Cortez came up with. She expected some good ones from him. That still left her nervously licking her lips. Was she making a mistake—trying to fight this thing to a surrender? Only time would tell.

Kris's commlink clicked, then clicked again. Sergeant Bruce had come in shortly after noon from his job observing the fun and games at the dugouts. He'd gotten a laugh and a new tough assignment. He and a couple of locals were spread out in observation posts well in front of Kris's ambush.

Two clicks meant he wanted to talk. Kris clicked once.

''They're about a mile out. Looks like someone called a break. The officers are circulating among the men giving final reminders. My bet is we've been spotted.''

No surprise. Kris would have no surprise in this fight.

Kris gave a single click, and the commlink went silent.

That was the problem with fighting smart people. What looked good to you looked good to them. When she'd met Thorpe, he hadn't been dumb, just driven. She had no reason to think he'd have a dumb ground pounder working with him.

Kris turned to the folks around her observation post/command center. ''Pass the word. They're a mile out and have stopped for a coffee break. We can expect them anytime.''

Civilians and Marines scuttled off to pass the word. The waiting was over.