Tasmanian SFG: Book III, Of One Mind, page 23
Howard spoke next. "The committee agreed, and we are sending one hundred Tasmanians. We cannot agree on whether to send the Ghost Platoon or not. What do you think, Luan?"
As much as I and my platoon loved assignments, this one did not appeal to me. The Fidain sound much like a ghost company working in their own jungle-like territory, which would provide excellent concealment. The advantage we had with the Shewapu was they didn't know we were in their territory, whereas the Fidain know the army is there and are not only on alert but also on the offensive. I sat not caring what anyone might think. When I opened my eyes, I was alone. Not sure what else to do, I waited. About thirty minutes later, the four returned.
"We didn't know how long you would be, so we decided to go to dinner," Howard said. "Any suggestions?"
"I think the Ghost Platoon should go to help protect the Tasmanian company," I said, probably sounding conceited and condescending. I held up a hand to stop any comments. "I don't know how or what we can do to help, but this is way outside of the Tasmanians' forte. You will be hunting an army of ghosts. They will not stand and fight or have a camp to defend or be in a hurry to stop us."
Jiao clapped quietly. "I'm afraid I agree with the Fox. This is not an ideal job for the Tasmanians, yet we have no choice. Hopefully, having our own ghosts along may help offset the Fidain's advantage."
"I agree," Wallace said. "Jiao, you are the company commander. Transportation will be here tomorrow at midnight."
"Luan, is the Ghost Platoon functional and available?" Jiao asked officially since I could refuse the assignment.
"Yes," I said with less than my usual excitement. I took out my TCom and typed.
Smitty, assignment on Hubei, have the team meet us in front of the headquarters building. Luan.
I laughed as I made my way outside. This was only the second time since I was made a platoon leader that I knew the assignment before Smitty. I had only just arrived outside when I saw Smitty running towards me.
"How?" he said as he slid to a stop in front of me. "Where?"
"It is a sad state of affairs when my second in command is the last to know about an assignment," I said, trying to look disappointed. Smitty looked around and frowned.
"Where is the company commander? Has he had the mission briefing already?" Smitty's head swiveled left and right, looking for anyone coming or going. Just then, Jiao appeared, and three men could be seen approaching the area. As they got closer, I recognized Tang, Katsu, and Harmon.
"We are headed for Hubei to deal with an ancient cult of assassins called the Fidain. They are interfering with botanists who are researching some plants growing there. The army will have a company of four hundred there to support us and protect the scientist while we negotiate with the Fidain. Tang will be my second in command. He, along with Katsu and Harmon, will have three thirty-man platoons. Luan will lead the Ghost Platoon. We depart tomorrow at midnight."
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
Planet: Hubei, Hunting Ghosts
"Jolie, the rumors are that you found out about the assignment before Smitty," someone shouted after we had settled down and the transport was accelerating away from Delphi.
"It's worse than that," I said. "Everyone assumes that Smitty will notify me of a pending assignment. So no one bothered to notify me, and when I didn't show up, they were concerned since the members of my platoon are permanently assigned. Consequently, I didn't find out about the assignment until two hours before we were supposed to board the shuttles. I have been trying to determine why Smitty didn't know. Maybe you can help by giving me your opinions. I will give you my thoughts, and you can vote whether you think I'm right."
"He didn't pay his informant?"
"Vote by raising your hands if you think that is the reason." A few hands went up. I pretended to count the hands and to enter the amount on my TCom unit.
"He's got a girlfriend and wasn't available to get the message?" A few hands went up, and I went through the motions again.
"He's getting old and slow?" Half the hands in the bay went up.
"He's getting senile and forgot the message?" Seventy percent of the hands rose.
"He's trying to get me removed so he can lead the Ghost Platoon?" Everyone's hand went up.
"That's an outrageous lie," Smitty shouted, and everyone began laughing.
The two-day trip to Hubei was a lot of fun and went quickly. When we exited the shuttle on Hubei, we were met by an elderly grey-haired brigadier general.
"I am General Yorken, in charge of the army detail," he said, looking at the five of us as we were first to exit the shuttle. "I was told Tasmanians were coming but nothing else. You people could wear some rank or colored armbands so we would know who we were talking to." He sounded frustrated.
"General, I'm Commander Jiao, and these are my platoon leaders, Tang, my second in command, Katsu, Harmon, and Luan. Together, we have one hundred Tasmanians. Our assignment is to stop the Fidain from hassling the botanists."
"You mean kill the bastards," Yorken shouted.
"It may come to that," Jiao conceded.
"Why the hell did you bring a woman?" Yorken demanded while looking directly at me. "There are no facilities here for women."
My mouth was about to say something until I saw Jiao shake his head. "That won't be a problem, General," Jiao said. "After we get our gear together and a hot meal, we will be in the jungle until we find the Fidain."
The general frowned at Jiao, then pointed towards two tents. "The tent with the smoke stack is the mess tent, and the large tent to its left is for you to use. I thought your home base would be this camp."
"We aren't sentries or camp security, General. We are here to find the Fidain, and they are in the jungle," Jiao said. I wanted to add, and you don't have any facilities for women, but didn't think Jiao would think it funny.
We followed Jiao to the designated tent. Once inside, Jiao turned to me. "What do you think, Fox?"
"I'm disappointed that there are no facilities for women," I said, trying to look serious. To his credit, Jiao smiled. "It depends on what you and the other platoons plan to do. I'm kind of a make-it-up-as-I-go-along type of leader. I think my team's actions will depend on what kind of assassins the Fidain are."
"Assassins are assassins," Harmon said. "Sneaky cowards."
"Actually, sneaky cowards could apply to any number of professions," I said. "For example, snipers, army artillery, demolition personnel, pilots...and like any profession, they have an approach or style. They can be aggressive, that is, they seek you out, or passive, they wait for you to come to them. Risk-takers or play it safe. Their traps can be automatic, meaning you trip them, or hands-on, meaning the assassin initiates the trap. Their traps can be simple, a string or beam, or are complex, requiring a sequence of actions."
"I would think they would use a combination of those actions," Jiao said, frowning in thought.
"True; however, a clan or school would have preferences which the students would tend to adopt," I said. "Therefore, I would normally wander around trying to determine their preferences and then how my team and I could be a pain in the ass."
"In other words, the Ghosts' preference is to observe before you aim and fire," Jiao said, nodding to himself. "That does fit the rumors I've heard about the Ghosts and explains why no one gives you orders or a mission."
"While you do that, people are dying," Harmon said with a tone of disgust. "Tasmanians are a rapid response team, a tsunami sweeping the enemy away."
Before Jiao could respond, I spoke. "I agree, and very effective, but not always the best way to clean a dirty beachfront property."
"I think the Ghost Platoon is a good addition which has produced excellent results, but Harmon is right in that waiting can be disastrous," Jiao said. "We will therefore pursue both approaches simultaneously." He smiled. I agreed. Although I was raised to look before I jumped, sometimes that wasn't possible, and the Tsunami approach was very effective.
Later, I sat in the mess tent with my platoon, having what might be our last hot meal for an extended period.
"What now, Fox?" Cedric asked.
"I would like to meet the Fidain," I said. "If we ask nicely, they may stop harassing the botanists, and we can go home."
"If they don't?" Todd asked.
"If they don't, we could ask louder the second time," I said, standing with my head cocked as if thinking. "I want each of you to carry explosive supplies so they can hear us if we have to ask again. Smitty and Josh will organize the explosives. Let's start early since I think the assassins will be more active at night." I rose and left the tent and scanned the area. I spotted two Rangers and walked toward them. They stopped walking when they saw me approaching. "Hi, I'm Tasmanian Luan. Can you tell me a safe way to leave this compound?" I asked, having been told the camp was surrounded by electronic surveillance devices.
"Are you the Fox?" the tallest of the two asked. I nodded. "Shirley and Clare talk about you all the time. I'm Charles, and my friend is William." He stuck out his hand, and I shook it. "Where are you going?"
"Into the jungle. I've heard interesting people live there," I said, trying to look interested.
"Clare did say you were as crazy as the men," William said, glancing over my shoulder at the men only a few meters behind me. He turned and pointed off to our right. "Those two guards by that small tent are the gatekeepers. They can shut off the gadgets and let you in and out."
"Thanks," I said and waved for my team to follow. At the tent, I stopped in front of a Lieutenant. He frowned when I approached without saluting.
"Tasmanians?" he asked, surveying me and the men following me.
"Yep. We are bored and would like to find some live entertainment," I chirped. He snorted.
"You have to sign out. Give me a name and a number. That will be your password to get back in."
"Fox, 00000," I said as Smitty stepped up.
"Flintstone, 00001," he said and smiled. The rest followed using their call signs and adding one to the last number given. As we moved into the jungle, we passed three different security lines extended out over twenty-five meters. They would certainly get plenty of notice of anyone approaching the camp, but the assassins were still killing soldiers and botanist team members. I took out the map of the terrain I had been given. It looked like a satellite photo, but it included elevation. Without that information, it would have been close to worthless. The only clear features were the camp, small bare areas, and rivers.
"I want to go here," I said. "G15xO7."
"Good luck," Art said.
"And I would like to get there before it's dark," I added. "Single line?" I asked.
"Double line, ten-meter spacing, with one man leading," Todd said. "Fox and Smitty in the middle."
I nodded. It made sense. Neither Smitty nor I were scouts, and the tail end of our procession would be the most vulnerable position, therefore, best occupied by an alert scout. We moved quickly because I had placed a time on getting to the position I wanted. I, in turn, felt the risk of traveling fast less than traveling at night. I was proved right or just lucky and reached the top of the forty-meter rise without incident just as the sun was setting.
"I want two scanning the area and two on guard during the night hours, and one watching and two on guard during the daylight hours," I said when we had established our camp area. "Smitty, Josh, set up four remote detonated devices out about twenty-five meters near what looks like the most likely approaches from the north, south, east, and west." Like magic, Van paired with Jafar, and Cedric paired with Carl as the first four sniper/guard pairs while Smitty and Josh paired to set the explosives. They decided on four-hour shifts. Those pairing left me with no one to pair with and no shift. I was going to complain until I realized it might be better for me to check in regularly to monitor the activity. I woke four hours later when I detected the first shift change.
"Any activity?" I asked, hoping they had seen something with the full moon present.
"No," Van said. "Of course, we can only see movements in areas where there are fewer trees and the vegetation is low or around the rivers where there is less vegetation."
I turned to Cedric. "I didn't see anything either," he said with a shrug.
I used my CheyTac scope to scan the area. They were right. We wouldn't be able to watch someone moving. We would have to catch glimpses of him as he passed the open areas with sparse vegetation. I went back to my sleeping bag. I woke at the next shift change.
"Todd, see anything?" I asked, noting that it was almost full daylight.
"Commander Jiao's three platoons left the compound about a half hour ago," Todd said. "I think he has the platoons split apart by fifty-plus meters, and they are heading due north. Nothing else."
"Pete?" I asked.
"I detected movement just before sunrise coming from the east on a south-west track. Hard to tell how many but enough to notice movement, maybe six to ten."
I decided to stay awake and used my CheyTac to monitor the activity. Jiao's platoon was easy to follow, although their numbers would have been impossible to determine. All I could see at any one time were small groups, and it was impossible to determine if the group I saw was the same or different from the last one. The Tasmanians were moving at a snail's pace. On the other hand, the Fidain were moving at a fast walk and had reached the ridge we were on but several hundred meters to our north. As they reached the ridge, they stopped, and we were able to determine there were nine in the group. They were dressed in tight brown shirts, pants, and head masks with splotches of different shades of green, which made them almost impossible to detect until they moved. The only weapons we could see included bows and arrows as well as an assortment of rifles and knives. After an hour of observing the area, they split into two groups. One was on a path that would intersect the Tasmanians by the end of the day, and the others' path would end up behind the Tasmanians unless they continued around to their other side.
I decided it was time to check in with Jiao. He had been good and not texted to find out where I was or what I was doing.
Dagger, you have one Fidai on the ridge with me, watching you. You have four Fidain approaching your east side about the time you stop for the day, and four who will be behind you about that same time. Our ridge is too far east to help. Taking out the Fidai on the ridge may ruin the surprise party. Fox.
His reply came ten minutes later.
Fox, I guess Harmon was right. They are sneaky. Thanks. Dagger.
At three in the morning, I received another message on my TCom.
Fox, we killed six, but two managed to elude us. They wounded three, which was impressive as we were ready for them. Dagger.
"Todd," I said as I crawled up beside him. "Dagger reports two got away. If they and the one on the ridge decide to return to their base, do you think we could follow them?"
"One might but not all of us," Todd said. "We would be in their territory, and they would have the overwhelming numbers if they discovered they were being followed. Besides, I would doubt they would send all three back. They would want to keep track of the Tasmanians, although they do seem to have lost track of us." He gave a short laugh. As Dagger proved, knowing the whereabouts of the enemy is a significant advantage. I suspected the Fidain would have killed several Tasmanians and wounded many others if Dagger had not known the Fidain were in the area. I struggled with what to do next. There were too many unknowns. Did the Fidain have a main camp or area or several scattered? Did they have roaming Fidain or lookout posts? Was traveling by day and attacking at night the norm? Was the lookout communicating with the attacking group or just monitoring the area? The answers to those questions could make a significant difference in the final outcome. Mentally exhausted, I sat and closed my eyes. When I opened my eyes, Smitty was sitting across from me.
"Well, Leader, what did you decide?" he asked. "We are all waiting, and this time, we don't even have guesses we are willing to wager on."
"Do we know what happened with the two that got away?" I asked, thinking that would be the key.
"Cedric thinks he saw them on the ridge early this morning, and they made their way east. He thinks the Fidai on watch stayed."
I crawled slowly to where Taipan lay. "Pete, can you see the Fidai on the ridge?" I asked.
"No. He is either sleeping or very stealthy."
"All right, gather around," I spoke softly and waved toward me. "I'm making assumptions, and I don't like that. The alternative is to do nothing. The latter is probably the safest option but the one that could extend the conflict and ultimately produce the most casualties. The former could be the best or the worst depending on how good my assumptions turn out to be." I looked around the group.
