"A stick," Soult answered.

"Hmm. How long before you could drive away?"

Soult took a moment before answering. "Well, you know how it is. I was driving on a mountain road in the eastern part of the country. There were actually cliffs on both both sides. I made a turn and there was a bus coming towards me and another car pa.s.sing the bus. Narrow road, too. I slowed down just in time for the car to miss me, but I ended up going fifty plus miles an hour backwards. I'd have gone off the cliff altogether except that there were three skinny palms growing close together where I went off the edge of the road. They just barely stopped me. My leg was shaking so badly at first that I couldn't use the clutch. That lasted maybe a half an hour. Then, for about two hours, I giggled like a girl at escaping." sides. I made a turn and there was a bus coming towards me and another car pa.s.sing the bus. Narrow road, too. I slowed down just in time for the car to miss me, but I ended up going fifty plus miles an hour backwards. I'd have gone off the cliff altogether except that there were three skinny palms growing close together where I went off the edge of the road. They just barely stopped me. My leg was shaking so badly at first that I couldn't use the clutch. That lasted maybe a half an hour. Then, for about two hours, I giggled like a girl at escaping."

A tremendous explosion two hundred meters away rocked the two men. It was followed by a storm of sh.e.l.ls impacting all around the entrenchment. Carrera and Soult ducked down low. After the storm lifted Carrera picked up the radio dedicated to fire support and listened momentarily. "That was theirs. The counter-battery people are already on it," he announced.

Soult laughed. "Just like a car wreck. I'm shaking now. I see your point, boss."

"I'm not sure you do, Jamey. You were in one almost car wreck. That That was just light sh.e.l.lstorm. What the people on top of that hill will be going through is the equivalent of a near fatal car wreck every minute or two for the next several hours. They'll be a very long time in laughing about it." was just light sh.e.l.lstorm. What the people on top of that hill will be going through is the equivalent of a near fatal car wreck every minute or two for the next several hours. They'll be a very long time in laughing about it."

"So you mean to break their morale?"

"Some will break, I suppose. But you know, Jamey, in battle fear and fatigue are almost indistinguishable and are are mutually interchangeable. Those men up there are going to be so repeatedly petrified that by the time they see the first of our boys they'll be too tired and too shaken with fear to so much as shoot straight." mutually interchangeable. Those men up there are going to be so repeatedly petrified that by the time they see the first of our boys they'll be too tired and too shaken with fear to so much as shoot straight."

"And besides that," Carrera finished, "I'm training training them." them."

Hill 1647, 0608 hours, 13/2/461 AC Twice the guns had lifted and twice Ali al Tikriti had ordered his battalion back into their trenches. Twice the guns had resumed fire with as much fury as before.

During the first lull in fire the Sumeri troops had moved briskly enough under the lashing tongues of their officers. The hill had come under heavy machine gun fire but, moving below ground level, no men were hit as they took up their positions. Then, instead of the expected ground attack, after five minutes of steady machine gunning, the artillery had reopened. A number of men were hit before reaching the safety of the dugouts. The Sumeris carried their wounded back with them.

Caught in the forward trench, Ali hadn't made it to his own bunker, but took shelter in one of the common ones.

A full thirty minutes further bombardment followed. Some of Ali's troops began a trembling that became uncontrollable whenever a sh.e.l.l landed close enough to rock the bunker. During the next break in fire the Sumeris hadn't moved quite so readily to the trenches. Many staggered as if drunk.

Ali and his officers and non-coms had to physically push some of them out of the bunkers.

When again the sh.e.l.ls came in and the men had to run for shelter they did not bring their wounded back with them. Ali did see two men stop to pick up a bleeding man. They seemed to lack the strength to lift him and so he was left behind. The Sumeri lieutenant colonel was too busy running to a shelter himself to order them back. The wounded soldier lay where he fell, crying to his comrades not to leave him.

On the third lull, Ali's men wouldn't, couldn't, follow his order to man the trenches. Helpless and hopeless he sat with his back to the wall and waited for the sh.e.l.l that would kill them all. A shot rang out inside the bunker. Ali summoned the strength to turn his head. In the far corner of the bunker, by the light leaking in from the enemy's illumination sh.e.l.ls, he saw a Sumeri sergeant with his rifle in his mouth. The back of his head was missing.

Forward trench outside Stollen Number Three, 0611 hours, 13/2/461 AC "Call for you, sir," Soult said. "The Ia wants to move up the time for the a.s.sault. He says the RPVs showed no movement on the objective during the last lull."

Carrera considered. "Tell him no."

Soult looked questioningly.

"Like I said, I'm training training them, Jamey. I want to teach the Sumeris a lesson, and establish a precedent. I don't want a ma.s.sacre. If they are not pounded senseless the Sumeris will fight back; individually they're a tough and brave people. If they fight back to any effect, then the troops will kill d.a.m.ned near everything on the hill when they go in. That's the part they never teach in the law of land warfare courses: prisoners are almost never taken in a fiercely contested a.s.sault. On the other hand, if they don't resist, if they're too badly knocked around to resist, the boys will take prisoners." them, Jamey. I want to teach the Sumeris a lesson, and establish a precedent. I don't want a ma.s.sacre. If they are not pounded senseless the Sumeris will fight back; individually they're a tough and brave people. If they fight back to any effect, then the troops will kill d.a.m.ned near everything on the hill when they go in. That's the part they never teach in the law of land warfare courses: prisoners are almost never taken in a fiercely contested a.s.sault. On the other hand, if they don't resist, if they're too badly knocked around to resist, the boys will take prisoners."

"How bad is it up there, really?" Soult asked.

By way of indirect answer Carrera replied, "One or two percent of them will blow there own brains out rather than endure another minute of it. I'd call that bad enough."

"You figured this out on your own, boss?"

"No...an artilleryman on Old Earth did....name of Bruechmueller."

Multichucha Ridge, 0700 hours, 13/2/461 AC A three man forward observer team equipped with a laser range finder c.u.m c.u.m target designator looked over the smoke-shrouded ridgeline to the north. The sh.e.l.ls had stopped falling while the gun crews took some rest and allowed the barrels to cool. The mortars, light, medium and heavy, had extra barrels for the bombardment. These the crews changed, dropping the hot ones in the snow to cool down. This was also a longer than normal delay to ensure that the Sumeri leadership on the ridge would be able to beat and drive their men back to their bunkers. To aid the enemy in that, there were some armored vehicles, tanks and Ocelots both, moving into position on the valley floor. target designator looked over the smoke-shrouded ridgeline to the north. The sh.e.l.ls had stopped falling while the gun crews took some rest and allowed the barrels to cool. The mortars, light, medium and heavy, had extra barrels for the bombardment. These the crews changed, dropping the hot ones in the snow to cool down. This was also a longer than normal delay to ensure that the Sumeri leadership on the ridge would be able to beat and drive their men back to their bunkers. To aid the enemy in that, there were some armored vehicles, tanks and Ocelots both, moving into position on the valley floor.

"Poor b.a.s.t.a.r.ds," said the sergeant in charge of the team, watching the Sumeris listlessly move back to position.

The sergeant was old line; the private new. They had somewhat different att.i.tudes. The sergeant was more cop than killer; the soldier more much much more killer than cop. more killer than cop.

"f.u.c.k 'em, Sarge," answered the private, looking through the eyepiece of the designator.

"You got target?" asked the sergeant.

"Easy. Let me know when to illuminate."

The sergeant took the radio microphone from the third, and junior, member of the team. "Zulu Five Whiskey Six Seven this is Zulu Five Whiskey Two Three, over."

The call was answered instantly. "Two Three this is Six Seven, go."

"Fire for effect, High Explosive Delay with Daredevil fuse. Target Alpha Oscar Zero Two One."

Again the radio crackled. "Roger. HEDD. Alpha Oscar Zero Two One. Stand by to illuminate....time of flight is thirty-nine, I repeat thirty-nine, seconds...shot, over."

The sergeant consulted his watch, counting off the time. When he reached thirty-three seconds he said, "Flash!" The private squeezed a trigger to send a narrow laser beam right at the bunker nearest the highway, continuing to hold the trigger down and the laser on the target until....

Hill 1647, 0701 hours, 13/2/461 AC It was Robles who saved Ali's life.

The mukkaddam mukkaddam had been moving low along the trench when one of the heavy machine gun bunkers behind him simply disintegrated, tossing sandbags, wood, machinery, bodies and parts of bodies high into the air. had been moving low along the trench when one of the heavy machine gun bunkers behind him simply disintegrated, tossing sandbags, wood, machinery, bodies and parts of bodies high into the air.

The blast had knocked Ali down, sending him rolling end over end before slamming him into one wall of the octagonal trace trench.

Groggy and panicked, he'd risen and began running as fast as he could through the zigzags his men had carved into the earth and rocks of the hill. He'd been heading, without really thinking about it, for the next bunker. There'd been a blinding flash of some kind of unseen light that stunned him further and left spots floating before his eyes. Thus he hadn't seen the Balboan bodies stretched out strangled and lifeless on the trench floor. He'd tripped over one and gone sprawling face-first down to the floor. At that precise moment another sh.e.l.l had struck the bunker, penetrating before exploding. The resultant demolition had ripped the bunker apart, sending among other things a large and jagged piece of construction steel whirring through the spot Ali had occupied just before he fell.

Now even more stunned, Ali looked up and into the rictus-smiling face of Sergeant Emmanuel Robles, late of the Legio del Cid. Legio del Cid. The sergeant's open eyes seemed to be staring at Ali with deepest disapproval. The sergeant's open eyes seemed to be staring at Ali with deepest disapproval.

Stumbling and screaming, Ali turned around once again. Halfway back to the first destroyed bunker he came to a communication trench. He recognized it as one he could use to return to his own bunker. He took the turn.

After becoming lost only once on the way, and this was understandable as the bombardment had changed the geography of the fortress more than a little, Ali found the door to his personal shelter. He opened the thick, hinged door and entered, leaving the door open behind him in his haste and his terror.

A whining, wailing sound came from under Ali's bunk. He looked to see his thirteen year old recreation boy cowering under the bed in absolute fright. The commander ignored the boy for the moment, rummaging around instead for a bottle of State-distilled whiskey. Finding it, he grasped the whiskey in one hand, then reached under the bed to pull the boy out by the hair with the other. He slapped the boy several times across the face, hard, to put an end to his sniveling.

Ali had lost control. Wanting something, anything, to make the terror go away, Ali broke open the whiskey bottle and took a long pull, followed by another. That helped but not quite enough. He needed to hurt something, to dominate something, since he and his command were being so thoroughly dominated by their attackers.

He put one hand on the boy's shoulder to force him down. Instead of dropping though, the wide-eyed child just shook his head, pleading. Ali was having none of that. He backhanded the boy across the bunker then followed him, reaching down to pull him up to his knees. Then he dragged the boy, still on his knees, across the bunker to his chair. Ali sat down and took another pull of his bottle before setting it down. Then he opened his belt to let his p.e.n.i.s spring out at a forty five degree angle. He pointed to show his boy what he wanted done but the boy just shook his head again in panicked refusal. Again, this time holding him by the hair so he wouldn't escape, Ali slapped the boy half senseless and forced his head down.

Bunker Meem Thalata (M3), Hill 1647, 0708 hours, 13/2/461 AC Sergeant Mohammad Sabah's mother didn't raise any fools. He'd felt the destruction of bunker M1 and even managed to catch sight of the debris falling to earth. Then he'd actually seen seen M2 disintegrate. That was enough. Shooting like that did not just happen. Someone was using guided sh.e.l.ls and systematically destroying the forward bunkers. M2 disintegrate. That was enough. Shooting like that did not just happen. Someone was using guided sh.e.l.ls and systematically destroying the forward bunkers.

Sabah made the not unreasonable connection between remaining on M3 and his own untimely demise. Since remaining on the hill period was also likely to be life threatening and trying to get off the hill by going north would only get him shot, or worse, by his own side, he opted to head toward toward the enemy rather than away. There was a little depression a few hundred meters forward that he knew of. the enemy rather than away. There was a little depression a few hundred meters forward that he knew of.

"Follow me," he said to men, taking his machine gun, one corporal, and three privates. "We'll hide forward."

Maybe we can surrender, Sabah thought. Sabah thought. After all, After all, we we haven't done the enemy any harm, personally. haven't done the enemy any harm, personally.

Led by Sabah, the five Sumeris slipped over the trench and began working their way down the steep slope of the hill.

Stollen Number One, 0735 hours, 13/2/461 AC A piper standing outside the Stollen Stollen played " played "Boinas Azules Cruzan la Frontera" (Blue Bonnets over the Border) as an Ocelot bearing a long, narrow footbridge pa.s.sed by. Cruz and his fire team emerged from the shelter. Some of the men who knew the new words began to sing along with the pipes: (Blue Bonnets over the Border) as an Ocelot bearing a long, narrow footbridge pa.s.sed by. Cruz and his fire team emerged from the shelter. Some of the men who knew the new words began to sing along with the pipes:

Many an eagle's wings Fly where the sh.e.l.lfire sings.

Follow your crest that is famous in story.

Stand and make ready then, Sons of the jungle glen.

Fight for your legion, your G.o.d and their glory.

March, March, Principe Eugenio Principe Eugenio ... ...

Perhaps they found it calming. Cruz didn't sing; he didn't feel the need to. Instead he watched. The bridge, he saw, was actually up in the air at about a forty-five degree angle, held in that position by ropes that ran to the rear of the vehicle. The bridge seemed to Cruz to be about one hundred feet long.

"Come on, shake it out!" shouted Cruz to his fire team. With his hands, he directed them to form a shallow wedge based on himself as the point man.

Right, he thought. he thought. Maybe it doesn't make sense to take up a Maybe it doesn't make sense to take up a wide wide formation before we hit the footbridge, but it will make it easier to get the boys back into formation once we cross. formation before we hit the footbridge, but it will make it easier to get the boys back into formation once we cross.

Ahead the Ocelot stopped a scant two meters from the river bank. The track commander emerged from his hatch and crawled onto the rear deck. He looked across the river to make sure he had judged his spot well, then took out and swung a machete to cut the rope. The bridge hesitated briefly before plunging down to span the river. It bounced twice before finally settling. Then the sergeant dismounted to cut the foot bridge loose from his vehicle's bow.

Off to the right another Ocelot approached the river bank, this one also bearing a footbridge on its prow.

The signifer for the century blew into his whistle, signaling the attack. Then he double-timed to the bridge and, without hesitation, began to cross. A sh.e.l.l came in, exploding on the near bank. The signifer was apparently unhurt as he increased his speed to get across the bridge.

"Come on, you a.s.sholes," Cruz shouted above the din. "The future's on the top of that hill. Follow me!"

As Cruz and his men began to cross, he chanced to look up at the hill ahead. It was section by section disappearing as the mortars switched from pounding it with explosives to dropping white phosphorus sh.e.l.ls along a line on the slope to blind any of the Sumeris in the forward trace who might be still able and willing to fight.

Forward trench outside Stollen Number Three, 0736 hours, 13/2/461 AC Carrera followed the progress of the men through his binoculars. He looked for Parilla, but in vain. The light was still too dim to make out individuals.

Still, up the slopes the flash of rifle and machine gun fire, punctuated by major blasts as the infantry and engineers chewed their way through the wire and mines, told the tale well enough.

The artillery and mortars suddenly switched targets, the 120mm mortars laying smoke just below the crest of both fortresses, while the artillery took to pounding targets further back. The lighter, 60mm, mortars ceased fire as their crews packed up to begin the backbreaking trek to the slope to join their centuries once the hilltops were secured.

Now, Carrera thought, Carrera thought, if everyone is still following the plan... if everyone is still following the plan...

Ah, there they were, eight Turbo-Finch Avenger close air support aircraft and three Cricket recon birds winging in out of the rising sun. The Avengers formed circle a couple of kilometers to the east, taking turns to dive in and lace the fortresses with rocket and machine gun fire. Once, but only once, a light anti-aircraft missile lurched up to attack the planes. All eight Avengers circling at the time had sensed the incoming missile and automatically spat out flares and chaff. The missile overcorrected and ended up ultimately crashing to the ground harmlessly.

And where are my Cazadors?

He needn't have worried. The four remaining centuries of Cazadors, borne on ten of the twelve medium lift helicopters, pa.s.sed through above the highway by Multichucha Ridge and continued along it. As the choppers pa.s.sed low between the fortresses atop Hill 1647 and its companion, door gunners blasted away more or less indiscriminately with machine guns. Once past, the choppers continued on. The Cazadors had a blocking position to take up further to the north.

Slope of Hill 1647, 0745 hours, 13/2/461 AC "Hah!" Parilla exulted as he forced his body up the hill, "Not bad for a man of almost sixty." Even so, I wish to h.e.l.l the slope ahead weren't too steep for tanks and tracks. Even so, I wish to h.e.l.l the slope ahead weren't too steep for tanks and tracks.

Parilla was followed by a small guard from the Headquarters cohort, plus two radio-telephone operators. They were the poor slugs who had to hump the heavy radios up the hill so that Parilla could stay in communication with Carrera and the command post to the rear, as well as the infantry cohorts to the front.

The call, "Fire in the hole!" came frequently now as infantry and engineers dropped small charges to explode surface laid mines, or used bangalores to clear paths through buried belts of them. Some of the sappers dragged heavy sleds holding rocket-propelled mine clearing line charges. These, intended in most armies to replace bangalore torpedoes, had one major problem. Bangalores could be adjusted and a.s.sembled to suit the depth of the obstacle. The MCLC was one size fits all. Thus, while it took six bangalore sections of about one hundred and twenty pounds to clear two five meter deep obstacle belts set sixty meters apart, a single MCLC, at about the same weight, could clear the first obstacle but would fall short of the second.

Fortunately for MCLC fanciers everywhere most certainly to include engineer century commander Sam Cheatham there was at least one broad belt of mines very near the base of the ridge. As the sappers and grunts blasted their way forward as fast as they could set a charge and duck, the more specialized engineers dragged their sleds forward, Cheatham cheering them on, ducking the flying rocks and metal as required. Their feet slipped on packed snow, and they cursed the entire way.

Parilla had to admire the engineers for their d.a.m.ned determination and grit. He stopped and took one arthritic knee Oh, that frigging Oh, that frigging hurts to watch as they reached the edge of the broad minefield with a MCLC. hurts to watch as they reached the edge of the broad minefield with a MCLC.

Operation of the MCLC was simple It involved little more than removing a watertight plastic cover from the plastic sled, rotating a rocket a.s.sembly to point generally frontally, hooking up an electric connection and then running to cover. Once behind cover, the engineers merely hooked up a small generator, and wheee wheee. At that point, electricity applied, the rocket took off downrange with a great deal of smoke and flame, dragging the line charge behind it. The line charge, roughly inch thick demolition cord, set itself off after it had reached apogee and fallen to the ground. About a dozen anti-personnel mines went boom, in sympathy, when the shock wave reached them And then the grunts were on their feet, screaming like a thousand banshees, charging through the gap with blood in their eyes and bayonets fixed.

Main Supply Route Zeus, north of Hill 1647, Sumer, 0759 hours, 13/2/461 AC Nineteen miles north of the twin hills, fifty odd vehicles of a Sumeri artillery battalion struggled in the dark along a winding road that led to the south. The trucks pulled behind them eighteen 122mm guns, generally similar to those used by the legion. It was no surprise that the guns were similar, both types had been built by the Volgans and sold for hard, desperately needed, cash. The guns represented the only artillery reserve available to the Ali al Tikriti's uncle, the Sumeri brigade and regional commander.

If the guns could reach a position in range of the hill before it was lost, there was a chance of breaking up any a.s.sault before it could reach the summit and dig in. In time, even the sh.e.l.l shocked Sumeri defenders would recover. They'd recover, in fact, a lot faster than their enemy could replace the sh.e.l.ls expended so far on the bombardment.

A few thousand feet above the battalion, unheard over the roar of the trucks' diesel engines, a lone Cricket observation aircraft circled in the clouds, dropping down from time to time to observe the winding mountain road below.

The observer in the Cricket said to the pilot, "Oh, G.o.d, I think I'm going to come just looking at this."

The pilot banked the aircraft over, took one look, and whistled. "Oh, baby, oh, baby, oh, baby, oh."

The observer was still laughing when he used the radio to call, "Zulu Lima X-ray Four Six this is Tango Mike Uniform One Two. Fire for effect...baby...over."

The radio crackled back. "Fire for effect...what's this "baby" s.h.i.t? Over."

"Four Six; One Two. I've got fifty, maybe sixty trucks with a battalion of guns plodding up the highway vicinity Target Alpha Oscar Four Five."

"Oh, baby."

Far to the south, halfway from the hills to Hewler International Airport, the six heavy rocket launchers of the legion received the call for fire from the Cricket, Uniform One Two. Each of the launchers was capable of firing twelve 300mm rockets, bearing warheads of two hundred and thirty-five kilograms, to a range of seventy kilometers. At that range, the predictable error was under two hundred meters. Since the beaten zone of a full ripple launch was on the order of three quarters of a kilometer, square, per launcher, the dispersion was tactically insignificant.

Within four minutes from the Cricket's call, when the trucks dragging the artillery had moved perhaps five hundred meters, the area was deluged with something over fifty-one hundred two kilogram bombs.

Two minutes after the last of the rockets had scattered its bomblets, the Cricket flew low and made a pa.s.s over the column to a.s.ses the damage. Not one of the broken, bleeding, burned or simply stunned men below even bothered to shoot at the plane.