Tasmanian SFG: Book III, Of One Mind, page 7
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Planet Delphi: Interlude
"What’s a woman doing in our showers?" Willard asked, looking horrified and hurriedly holding a towel in front of his genitals. Willard was one of the seven individuals who had just recently graduated from the Tasmanian Qualification School.
"That's not a woman. That's our sister," Smitty said as he continued to rinse the soap out of his hair.
"You let your sister…" Willard gasped, his lips moving, but no sound emerged.
Smitty laughed. "That's Tasmanian Luan. Our Tasmanian sister. She lives in the barracks."
I took that as my cue and turned so he could see my Tasmanian tattoo. "We seldom have separate latrines or bathing facilities on assignment, so it's best to get all the polite-society crap over with here. In the field, distractions can get you killed," I said to Willard's open mouth stare, which turned into a jerky nod.
"Don't get confused, Willard," I heard Smitty say as I walked into the locker room to towel off and get dressed. "In the kitty-cat exterior hides a sabretooth tiger. The few fools who thought her showering with us was a license to touch spent the week in the hospital."
As I dressed, Smitty came walking over. "I hear we have a new assignment," he said while smiling.
"Someday, you're going to tell your platoon leader how you find out about assignments before anyone else," I said, shaking my head in frustration.
"The team is assembled and ready." He gave me a toothy grin as my TCom buzzed with a message from Howard.
Luan, report to the headquarters building. Howard.
I had to laugh as I left the barrack and headed in the direction of the headquarters building. On the way, I saw Sadler and Lacy.
"It has been a while since the three of us were on assignment together," Lacy said as we neared. "Sadler and I were squad leaders and you a new Tasmanian. From what I hear, now you are a platoon leader."
"That's what happens to Tasmanians who can't follow orders," Sadler quipped with a grin.
"Rub it in, Ironman. I notice you and Hawkeye aren't any smarter than me, since you are obviously Howard's real platoon leaders. Actually, three times dumber since you will have thirty in your platoon, and I have only ten." I gave them my happy ear-to-ear smile. Looking toward the headquarters building, I could see Tang was standing with Howard.
"She's right, Sadler," Lacy said. "The Fox is very foxy."
"Good," Howard said as we approached. "Jolie, is your platoon functional and able to accept an assignment?" he asked formally since I had the right, per our agreement, to decline any assignment for the entire team.
"Yes, Professor," I said, feeling excited to be going on assignment. "Packed and ready to go."
"You have to admit, Jolie's call sign fits. She has Smitty, who knew an hour ago we had an assignment, so her team is assembled and ready to go," Tang said, giving a snort. "The rest of us will be working all night to put together our teams and have to negotiate with each other for the individuals we want. Not to mention, she has ten Tasmanians we would all love to have in our platoons."
"She does appear to have the system figured out," Howard chuckled. "We are going to the planet Papus. Apparently, the Navy caught a Rarder's cruiser in Papus space and destroyed it. Unfortunately, the Rarders had ten combat shuttles on the planet at the time, approximately two hundred or so Rarders on the planet with no way to leave. The navy has decided the cleanup is the responsibility of the army. Subsequently, the army destroyed their shuttles but suffered heavy losses fighting the Rarders, who have equivalent weapons. The Rarders retreated to Athyes mountain and have taken up refuge in hundreds of mining shafts. The army considers they have done their part and are leaving the final cleanup to us."
"I assume they couldn't use bombs, etc.," Sadler said. "Or they wouldn't need us."
"Correct," Howard said. "The Rarders abducted about fifty women during their raid on Silver City. Papus would like the Rarders killed, the women freed unharmed, and the mines left intact. I plan the usual configuration, three platoons each with three squads of ten. We will determine how the platoons are deployed when we reach Papus. Tang, you are second in command, and, Luan, you report directly to me. Try to remember Wallace's comment while you are wandering around."
"Comment?" Sadler asked, clearly amused.
"While she may not have a specific assignment, her commander would like to occasionally know where her platoon is and what they are doing," Howard said to grinning faces. I felt my cheeks burning, which produced even bigger grins.
"I remember," I said, feeling embarrassed and vowing to check in regularly. Maybe get Smitty to remind me.
"We leave tomorrow at noon," Howard said, dismissing us.
* * *
"Jolie, I hear you took your platoon on a special training exercise. What training could those ten Tasmanians need? They are some of our most senior and experienced men," someone asked after breakfast aboard the transport the following morning. I jumped out of my ground-level sleeping container and stalked around, looking angry.
"Anyone own a dog who barks at every noise?" I scanned the bay looking to see if anyone responded. I saw a couple of raised hands. "Annoying, isn't it? A couple of yaps is cute. Shows they are awake and paying attention. However, when it goes on and on, it's not cute and makes you feel sorry you didn't choose a cat," I said, stomping up and down the bay. "Well, my team are whiners. Whine. Whine. Whine. Here I am, the perfect platoon leader trying to keep me and them safe, and you would think I had asked them to give up their weapons. Like our last assignment. I decided to interview the groups that had been terrorized. What could be safer than that? My team spent the entire day whining that they wanted to join the troops attacking the mountain men. To appease them while keeping them safe, I decided to investigate the foothills. After all, what self-respecting mountain man would be caught dead in the foothills? My team whined the whole day about joining the idiots on the mountain. I could get hurt climbing the damn mountain, not to mention the mountain men shooting at me. Eventually, we encountered men shooting at us. My team stopped whining long enough to kill them. I decided to return to the base camp and tell the colonel what we found. More whining. My team wanted to push on, hoping to find more mercenaries to kill. I agreed, hoping there were no more. We found their camp. This time, we had prisoners, so I wanted to take them back to the base camp and wait for the Tasmanians to take care of the mountain men. More whining. They heard there were more mercenaries further on. After hours of whining, I gave in, hoping they were wrong. I had enough fighting for one assignment, but my team dragged me further into the wilderness. They found their main camp. By this time, I was ready for a rest home. It was a miracle we weren't all dead. I wanted to return to the colonel with our prisoners. More whining. They wanted to join the Tasmanians fighting the mountain men. I ordered them to return to the colonel. We hadn't gone a mile when the commander ordered me to join the Tasmanians on the mountain. At least the whining stopped. The boss forced me to talk to the head mountain man. We reached an agreement. He would convince the boss to take the troops into the valley to wipe out the mercenaries who have been harassing the mountain men, and I needed to stay and treat his wounded. More whining. My team wanted to join the boss man fighting the mercenaries." I stop talking and stomp around the bay. "I was lucky to be alive and determined to stop my team from their incessant whining. So, when we got back to Fort Endeavor, I took them to the qualification training area and ran exercises for three days. They whined continuously. On the fourth day, I informed them I have been keeping track and told each man how many times he had whined. Then I conducted three more days of exercises and again gave each man the new count. High count was over one hundred. Then I revealed my solution." I stop to do a happy dance. "On the next mission, I was going to keep a count each time one of them whined. When I couldn't take it anymore, I was going to resign and recommend the man with the highest number of whines as the next team leader."
That generated hoots, clapping, cheering and an assortment of that's a foxy solution.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Planet Papus: The Rarders
Our shuttles delivered us to the Delphi army bivouac area just outside of Silver City, where we were met by a general and, to my surprise, Colonel Medina.
"Good day, I'm General Larsen, and this is Colonel Medina in charge of the Rangers," the general said while surveying the five of us who had not only failed to salute but also hadn't straightened to attention. The general was tall, grey-haired, clean-shaven, and looked to be in good condition.
"General, I'm Commander Howard, and these are my platoon leaders, Tang, Sadler, Lacy, and Luan," Howard said, nodding to each of us in turn. The general's eyes spent several seconds on me before speaking.
"The Rarders are hiding in abandoned mines in those mountains, which covers an area of approximately six hundred hectares," he said, pointing to a mountain range about three klicks from where we were standing. The area has high deposits of gold and silver and has been mined for years. Consequently, it has hundreds of kilometers of tunnels, both active and inactive. Good ground for a defensive stand; however, the Rarders have no water or food except for what they captured when they took over the area. The locals claim it won't last more than a couple of days given the size of the Rarders' force, estimated around three hundred. The Rarders are small but extraordinarily strong and have excellent military equipment. As good or better than our standard army equipment. We have eliminated their shuttles and killed or wounded close to a hundred before they retreated into the mines. Once there, we were losing five to one because of the hostages, about fifty women. Ground to ground missiles or bombs would reduce their numbers quickly but kill the women and destroy the tunnels and equipment," he concluded, leaving off now it's your problem.
"Thank you, General Larsen. I assume you will be providing us ground support: medical, food, supplies," Howard said and continued when he nodded. "Before we head out, I would like to get my men a good meal, a few hours of rest, a couple of days of rations, and talk to the troops that fought the Rarders."
"Colonel Medina will arrange it," Larsen said before turning and walking back towards the sea of tents. Medina led Howard and the platoon leaders to the mess tent and got us a separate table.
"The Rarders look like four-year-old kids from a distance," Medina said. "But the bastards have modern weapons hanging from every belt, wear protective gear, and carry thirty-kilogram packs loaded with explosives and electronic gadgets. We know because we recovered a couple of dead Rarders they didn't have a chance to strip before we overran them. I saw one Rarder punch a corporal who was wearing protective gear. One punch to the chest killed him. The impact caused a compound fracture which penetrated the heart and shattered several arteries." Medina closed her eyes as if trying to get rid of the memory. "They were running with items weighing well over a forty-five kilograms like it weighed ten."
"Shoot any?" Lacy asked.
"Bullets kill them, but their protective gear is good and covers everything except their face, arms, and legs, which are a small target given their size," Medina said, pursing her lips. "It will be interesting to see if your CheyTac ammo can penetrate their protective gear." As she talked, the food began arriving, and the conversation fell quiet. "Jolie, that training exercise helped. I'm afraid the thought of losing would have been a major distraction because it was a definite possibility. We only had five hundred army and one hundred Rangers, and hand-to-hand combat favored them." She gave me a long hard look before continuing. "What will you be doing on this assignment?"
"What I usually do, wander around looking for where I can be a pain in the ass," I said with a wink.
"Where are you going to wander? We know where they are. They are in the mines, and they will have to come out in a couple of days."
"Why?" I asked.
"For food and water," Medina frowned at the question.
"I suspect there has to be water inside the mountain, and they have fifty women to eat—"
Medina's chair slid backward, and her face had a look of pure horror. "What a horrible thought!"
"That's reality," I said as Medina's face turned pale. "Those women aren't their kin. We eat cows and grazing animals."
"But they are not human," Medina screeched.
"I doubt they would eat Rarders, although there have been cannibalistic tribes throughout history. Don't confuse your ethics with theirs," I said. Slowly and with obvious reluctance, she nodded.
"I'll probably regret this, but can I tag along?" she snorted. "I want to see what a squad with no assigned objective does while the rest of the Tasmanians are making a direct assault on the Rarders."
"Me too," I quipped. When I looked back to my food, I noticed everyone staring at Medina and me.
Howard shook his head. "I guess that answers my question about what the Ghost Platoon plans to do. Medina, since you are coming along, could you show us the area where you believe most of the Rarders found shelter?"
Medina nodded as we rose to leave. "Give me a few minutes, and I will arrange for transportation to the area," she said and left. Ten minutes later, four trucks arrived. I think Howard would have preferred to run to the area but conceded for Medina's sake. The trip took less than five minutes. The trucks stopped about a klick from the mountain.
"Most entered the mountain here and disappeared into the mine shafts you can see about fifty to eighty meters up the mountain." Medina pointed to several man-sized openings in the rocks. "A few entered that shallow break in the mountain. I'm told there are more mines back there."
I collapsed into a sitting position, and within minutes, my team was gathered in a circle on the ground around me. Medina shook her head, and her eyes looked skyward in disbelief.
"While our brothers are bravely assaulting the Rarders, I would like to scout deeper into the mountain," I said. "Ideally, I would like a perch about a hundred meters up with a good view of the area. Single file, night or day?" I asked.
"Single file, one scout fifty meters in front, twenty-five meters spacing, and night," Pete said and scanned the group. Seeing no objections, he rose and began walking toward the break. Five minutes later, Josh rose and followed. One by one, they rose, maintaining the twenty-five-meter separation. When Smitty rose, I rose.
"Our turn," I said. "Smitty and I are always last as we are not scouts."
"That was amazing. Don't you approve the decision?"
"No. Then it would be my plan. This way, it's their plan, and they are responsible for it," I gave a wry smile.
"She's sneaky that way," Smitty chimed in. "We do all the work, and she takes all the credit."
"As a good leader should," I quipped and began walking. There was what looked like an animal trail, probably made by countless miners over the years, but it was slow going due to small landslides and the need to be cautious. Progress got even slower as night descended, even though we had night vision goggles. A couple of hours before dawn, my TCom buzzed.
Luan, I think we found your perch. Wolf.
I signaled to Medina and Smitty and began moving to the front of our line. When I arrived, Cedric, who was now the lead man, pointed to several ledges: one about sixty meters and the other around ninety above our current position. There looked to be a fair amount of vegetation to mask our presence. It took another hour to distribute the team, so we were not bunched together. We were in position just as the grey light of dawn began to creep down the valley separating the two mountain ranges. It had everything the Rarders needed. Vegetation for the animals that made it home and water from a small lake fed by runoff from the mountains.
"My god," Medina sighed. "If the tunnels on this side connect to the ones on the other side, they will have all the food and water they need to survive."
"How many Rarders do you estimate came this way?" I asked.
"Between thirty and forty. Probably a scouting party. What now?"
"We sit and watch, hoping to find something creative to do to annoy the Rarders," I said, having no interest in exploring the tunnels without some significant motivation. I suspected the Rarders would have a tremendous advantage in the tunnels:
* Their size would make it easier to move and hide,
* Their presence would make it easy to set traps because we would have to go to them,
* They could use explosives since they would know the area and didn't care about destroying the mine,
* And they had nothing to lose and everything to gain.
"Aren't you concerned that your brothers are fighting the Rarders and you are not doing anything to help?" Medina asked, without emotion. I smiled; she was analyzing my logic.
"No. Remember the failing exercise?" I asked.
"How could I forget?"
"Howard's objective is the direct assault on the enemy," I said. "Mine is to find weaknesses or something to disrupt the enemy. Right now, that means observing the enemy for clues. Succeeding or failing isn't part of the observation." I took out my TCom. "Although keeping him informed is a part." I gave a wry smile.
Professor, I am on the other side of your mountain where there is a valley with water and animals. I am trying to determine if the tunnels on this side extend to your side. Medina estimates there may be as many as thirty to forty in the caves on this side. Fox.
Fox, thanks. We are in the tunnels. the going is slow. Professor.
Just before dawn's early grey light, two Rarders appeared in the mouth of the first cave. They spent several minutes surveying the area with night vision glasses. Then one walked down to the small lake and returned twenty minutes later with a bucket of water and two small furry animals. They disappeared inside.
"Food and water," Medina observed. I nodded. Not long afterward, the same scenario occurred from cave number two.
"Do you think those caves are connected?" Medina asked. I shook my head in the negative. Nothing happened until late that afternoon, when six men appeared. They collected water, shot some animals, and explored closer to the next mountain range, which had additional mines judging by the tailing. "You could shoot those men. Six less men and less water."
