CHAPTER 23

There was nothing about a defense that was every truly finished and, technically speaking, if the army wasn’t moving it was always defending. That was the line that they taught you in officers candidate school and, as Katie had always figured it, this was a lie you told your people to keep them busy. She remembered hearing it back when she was enlisted and, at that time, had paid it almost no attention at all. Things had changed since she got her commission and now, they had changed again, since she jumped out of that chopper and into this place.

The idea of building a defense was no longer a joke or even a management tool. The really strange part about all of that, and what Katie had not prepared herself for, mainly because she had never dreamed of it, was her motivation for kicking a little ass with her company. She wanted their section of the perimeter so tight that a rabbit couldn’t get through and when she jumped on the usual smoking and joking, it was not because she was trying to win any training competition. It was also not because Katie Mack was a thorough professional. The simple fact was that Katie was just plain scared shitless. That defense was no longer an order, it really was a shield protecting her life.

The strange twist to all of this was, Katie could not tell anyone how she felt nor could she show it. She had to look confident, act like all of this was routine, and pretend to be bored. She had even publicly said that this was just another training exercise, with some live fire thrown in, just to keep her people from freaking out. If Bravo Company saw her loosing it then everyone might really do that when it was game time. That would get them all killed.

The way that Katie found to beat the “shakes” as she had come to think of them was to keep her mind focused on work. If she stayed busy then she reasoned that there would be no time to get scared. What Katie discovered was that it did leave plenty of time to get frustrated. She had been doing her level best to make sure that her guys stayed busy and, as a consequence, they stayed tired with no time to think. That meant that Katie had to do twice the work, and not reach the point she was aiming for her men. Her mind always had to be clear.

Unfortunately, Katie had left her head a little too clear, maybe? You could get so tired that you did not know the difference anymore. As Katie stood inside the hole that would hopefully become her company command post, and looked at the crappy maps provided by the elves, none of which were very useful, she finally just snapped at her key people and snarled, “who picked this fucking position!?”

Snake just let his Captain vent and then told her calmly, “ma’am, you going to have to bitch to battalion on that one. Till the good colonel decides to reposition us, we stuck with it.”

Katie put her hands on the field table, took a deep breath, ran her fingers through her greasy hair, and then relented, “yeah I know top.” Katie refocused and then told him, “all right, let’s do something helpful here. These tree’s are a problem, a big problem. If I’m reading this map right then we don’t have a third of our sectors covered. Our primary weapons can’t even cover the obstacles.”

Snake just shrugged, “Captain, if you can figure out how to take them trees down, then I’m all ears. From what I’ve been hearing, we ain’t the only ones dealing with that problem.”

When Katie looked back up at the guy she was not particularly pleased, “is that a rumor First Sergeant, or is that official?”

Still not effected by his Captain’s current attitude, Snake just shrugged, “it’s the truth. You just got to look out past the perimeter to know that much. You know, looking at them damn trees, it’s no wonder the Orcs are all toting cannons around. It’s the only thing that’ll penetrate them trunks out there.” Snake had spent most of his career in the mechanized infantry and he admitted to himself a Bradley would have been a pretty sight right now. More specifically, “I’d give anything for the smell of a twenty-five mike mike right about now.”

Katie snapped again, “they gave us a fifty cal!” She actually raised up and looked over the lip her of hole. Out near the perimeter was the position that they were digging for their single biggest weapon, the fifty caliber ‘ma duce’ machine gun. Unlike her First Sergeant, Katie had spent almost her entire field career in the airborne. To her, the M-2 was both a luxury and a BFG which, of course, stoof for the Big Fucking Gun!

After satisfying herself with an update on the progress of that critical fighting position, Katie dropped back down and looked at the grease pencil markings on a map that didn’t even show elevations. She wanted to scream at the damn thing, “back to cases, it doesn’t do us any good if it doesn’t have a target and I want that thing to have the maximum number of targets!”

With the bitch session behind her, Katie decided to walk her company’s positions once more. She went from hole to hole, got down on the ground, and looked at what each soldier would see. Every time she did this she would take out a legal pad and scribble down her own notes, make her own sight pictures, and was learning to ignore the antique paper forms that the army had provided. They had been the targeting forms that the army used to use before the computer networks had taken over and done most of this work for them. When Katie first saw those little slips of paper, back at the ITTC, she had wondered how anyone had ever understood them!

About half way into her inspection, Katie was lying on her stomach, looking out over the top of a hole, and making comments to the soldiers who had been digging before she arrived. She told them to get back to work as she pushed herself up off the ground and found that she had been joined by someone unexpected. Katie almost jumped out of her skin when she first saw the guy. She quickly recovered and began dusting off her uniform as she stood and asked this elf, “can I help you?”

The elf had on a uniform of sorts. Katie could see some of the muddy dark gray remnants of a barracks uniform that belonged to the Olyan-Notae. She could only see a small part of that because the rest of him was covered by a variety of animal skins that hung on him like he had just killed the creatures and slapped them over his uniform. What really gave him away was the wild haircut that those guys liked so much. The sides were shaved, almost like a Mohawk but, not as narrow and the long back hair was tied off in a tight pony tail. His ears were covered with various jewelry piercing but, they were not quite as ornate as those guys liked to wear in the city.

If he was like all of the others, of his kind, then he probably did not speak very good English. He did have a rather pleasant sounding accent and sounded quite polite when he said, “Dogrecea Chjolani.”

Katie kind of thought the guy said, “Duck-Rick-Shaw-Joe-Laney?” She had no idea what that meant so she told him, “sorry, I don’t speak Fey. What, um, what does that mean?”

The guy surprised her by coming out with excellent English when he replied, “it means it’s my name Captain Mack. I am what, in your organization, you might call a Captain. We don’t have your rank structure so, me explaining my position would take too long.”

Katie stepped forward and shook his hand before she even remembered not too. Surprisingly, the elf had no problem doing it. She had been told that these Olyan-Notae guys were really old school and were sometimes even insulted when presented with human customs. Maybe this ‘Duck’ guy was the exception? He certainly acted pleasant enough. He was even quite apologetic when he told her, “I’ve been assigned as your, um, counterpart. I am here to advise you on things of a tactical nature.”

Katie just tried to smile, shook her head, and shrugged her shoulders as she replied, “well I guess that’s a good thing then.”

The Elf was almost laughing, “it’s a very good thing Captain Mack.” He stepped past her and looked out beyond the perimeter as he told her, “because, from everything I’ve seen so far, you are doing everything wrong.”

Now Katie dropped the civility. This guy looked like a reject from a Scottish Kilt movie and belonged to an organization that thought you still should carry a sword in the field! Katie belonged to an elite military organization with over two hundred years of history under her belt, high tech weaponry, and this clod thought he was just going to come over here and insult her? That was not to even mention the fact that she had very little trust for elves in general and the Olyan-Notae in particular.

How was it this guy seemed to pick that very thought out of her mind, “if you are wondering if I might lead you astray Captain.” He turned to face her when he said the next part, “just remember that my life is as much on the line as yours. I very much wish to see your defenses in as good a shape as possible.”

Katie crossed her arms, cocked her head, and then just put it to the elf, “ok, what are we doing wrong?” How the hell could they be doing this wrong? You had weapons that spit out lead. You cleared a field so they could do it as far out as they were capable. You made sure the other guys could not do it back at you. How hard could this very simple principle be?

The first thing that Dogrecea replied with was short, simple, and was completely unexpected, “the first problem is you are digging holes.”

That brought about a moment of silence and, finally, Katie figured out how to reply, “tell you what Captain. Take a look at my line, make up some notes, and I’ll look them over.” She then walked off, “if you’ll excuse me, I have to report in.” That was very much a lie that Katie had every intention of making come true.

To Katie’s surprise, she found Major Conner walking towards the battalion command post with Lieutenant Stevens, from Delta Company, in tow. Katie had not even been aware that Conner was in camp but, it was a pleasant surprise till she fell in beside him and matched his quick pace. Conner did not even give her a chance to say anything. He looked at his watch and then said, “you’re late, Captain.”

That made Katie scramble to remember what it was that she had forgotten to do. Conner was not giving her a clue so she finally had to admit, “my apologies sir, could you remind me what I’m late for.”

Conner was more than happy too, “all the other company commanders have already ambushed me with a major bitch fest. Since Caldwell isn’t in camp I kind of figured you for the ring leader but, you didn’t show.” Katie had no idea how to take that and was at a loss for words. Conner used the pause, “I’ll tell you what I told them Captain, it was the Colonel’s call and you’re stuck with them, so, use them.”

“I don’t know how much help the Olyan-Notae are going to be Major,” Katie complained, “we’ve already got insurmountable problems with the perimeter and…”

Conner had been looking down at the ground as Katie rambled on about the situation with her section of the line. Then, suddenly, he stopped and the two junior officers stopped with him. Katie also stopped rambling. Conner smiled when she did. He then said, “I just got back from Way Out. Charlie Company managed to get word to Arbuckle. The SF’s with them think that they found a trail that belongs to Caldwell and that Spec-4 that are missing.”

That explained, to Katie, why Lieutenant Stevens was here. Charlie company was on a patrol, in force, to recover missing people and bodies. Nobody had expected them to find anyone alive. It was great news and Katie said as much. Conner disagreed, “no it’s only slightly less darker news. The truth is Captain, it’s not just your line that’s in pathetic shape, the entire perimeter is and, if intel is too be believed, we’re sitting right in the path of a major herd.”

Suddenly Katie was looking all around towards the far off tree lines and hills. She would not have been all too surprised to see a horde of raging Orcs storming into their base camp, only, things looked quiet enough for now. That led to a very important question, “how far out?”

Conner quickly admitted, “we don’t even know where they are. We just know there’s lots of indicators they’re around here.”

Katie was still a bit jumpy as she looked on the bright side, “well isn’t that our mission?”

“Right now Captain,” Conner replied, “I’m a little more concerned with what their mission is because, quite frankly, we don’t know. What’s worse is the Elves are just puzzled as we are.” Before Katie could say something, Phil cut her off and continued with, “what they do know is how to fight in this terrain. This place is like nothing on Earth and, I’m afraid, all that bullshit they made up for us at the ITTC isn’t going to cut it here.”

“Sir,” Katie had to say, “ok the trees are the size of sky scrapers but, it’s just plain old dirt and hills. Guns still work the same, the enemy still has to come at us the same, besides having weak fields of fire we can devise some kind of work around. Maybe if we had a little more C-4 and...”

Conner cut her off and pointed to a nearby object, “see that bolder over there Mack?” It was pretty obvious to Katie and she just nodded to the question. Then Phil laid it on her, “that’s not a boulder, that’s a splinter from a fallen tree.” Katie’s jaw dropped. Then Phil pointed to the ground where he had been slowly pushing away soil with his boot. It looked to Katie like he had hit bedrock but, then, Phil gestured to the three acre clearing they had been using for landing choppers. He told her, “you’re standing on a nearly petrified tree stump.”

Katie blinked and then she nearly choked on her own spit. Finally she had to admit, “I don’t get it.”

“That’s exactly my point Captain,” Conner told her. “None of us do and, in fact, it’s so bad that the Colonel wanted to pull us out of the Hurtegan and back to Uea-Au.”

Now Katie was almost afraid to ask but, did anyway, “why hasn’t he?”

“He’s got bosses too Katie,” Phil replied. “DC is leaning on Garret and Garret is leaning on him. They not only want us in here they want results. In fact, that’s why I’m here right now. The colonel got…”

The young Lieutenant Stevens was starting to get nervous about the conversation. He had figured this was well over his pay grade and wanted no part of it. Katie remembered being like that and she was kind of amused at how he was trying to get Conner’s attention. Finally the kid had to interrupt, “sir, can I… you know.”

Conner didn’t even look at the boy, “go Lieutenant.” As the boy ran off, Conner jumped back on Katie, “the colonel has been recalled to the embassy for consultations with Garret and his people.”

Katie kept eyeing Stevens but, was more interested in how Conner was taking all this. She had never seen the guy this upset and, that was saying something. Conner was still mostly cool but, you could hear that edge in his voice. You could see an artery or two popping on his balding head. It made her even more nervous than before. She felt awkward as she asked, “so what are we supposed to do?”

Conner looked around to make sure nobody was listening when he said, “besides follow your orders? I’d pray we don’t get attacked until we can make some sense out of this pooch screw.”

The explosion followed Phil’s last word without a space in between. There had been no warning that it was coming and Katie got more of it than Phil. It was not because they were that close. Katie felt the slap of hot air on her body and a disorientation from the sudden change in pressure but, she managed to stay on her feet even if she might should have jumped for the ground. What got her more than Phil was that she just happened to be looking right at ground zero when it went off. She had glanced back over to Stevens who was about to ascend the hill where Delta company was located. He vanished in the cloud of dirt and debris that was caused by the impact.

Time had also suddenly stopped. Katie did not know if it was her disorientation, the fact that it all literally happened in the blink of her eye, or maybe, if it was an effect of the concussion. For all she knew the entire thing could have lasted for minutes. It was almost like her brain had forgotten to think about time. Then she felt herself being slammed to the ground and only after she got her wits back did she realize the explosion had not done it. Conner had grabbed her by the vest and thrown her into a nearby gulley. She made no effort to get up and was happy to know it was the right move. Several more explosions followed the first.

The ground shook, an arid tasting smoke filled the air, Katie’s eyes blurred, and she coughed as she lay there looking into the sky. Then she saw two prop driven planes fly overhead. They were so low that she could easily make out the IAF markings on their wings. She could, also, practically read their tail numbers! She listened to the hissing noises they made and realized they were pouncing on something with their air to ground rockets. When the ground shook again she realized that was an accurate assessment.

As things began to settle down, Katie was still shivering but, she realized, she had to get up and check on her people. That started with the man who may have just saved her life. She meekly called out from the gulley, “Phil?”

She felt relieved when she heard his weak and shaken voice, “yeah I’m here Katie.” That voice snapped life back into Katie and she jumped up from her cover and quickly saw Conner. He was a few feet away, on his knees, and coughing. He nodded to her that he was all right and before hacking again, he mumbled, “got to start wearing that damn armor now.”

Katie crawled closer too him, also on her hands and knees. She realized this probably did not look very leader like but, right now, she didn’t care. When her breathing settled down she asked, “what the hell was that? Artillery?”

Conner looked around and saw the activity around their positions. There was quite a bit of rushing around in alarm but, that was normal considering the situation. It did not appear as if the shelling hat hit anything critical. A medic ran over and Phil waived the guy off. Then he tried getting to his feet but, only made it to one knee. He told Katie, “back to your company, get a head count. Let’s find out if we lost anybody.”

“Sir,” Katie was still disoriented, “do we prepare for an assault? Is that….”

“Harassment Captain,” Phil told her. “Those were just enemy mortars and I was told to expect that.”

Those were mortars? Katie’s jaw dropped. Mortars were supposed to be little things and she was looking at one damn big crater. It was where Stevens had been! Katie told Phil just that and he mournfully replied, “he’s gone. Nothing we can do about it.”

Steven’s smoldering head fell right between Katie and Phil. It was still attached to the kids helmet and his face was not mangled enough to hide the terror that he had felt in his final seconds. Phil and Katie both screamed at it.