CHAPTER 40

There were a lot of little problems in a world that lacked even the most fundamental forms of wireless, speed of light, communications. These were things you never thought of until they slapped you in the face. Bob Isaacs had considered the tactical military issues and guessed right about most of it. Of course, he had also found out that the fundamental considerations he had thought were not even ten percent of what was required. All three operations, from Wind Storm, to Yellow Brick, to Gold Straw, all brought up new problems and were, in effect, on the job training for everyone involved. What Bob had not considered were the simple things. That included how much time he had to spend away from the field.

Teleconferences were taken for granted back home. Constant communications, up and down the chain of command, were as common as breathing. It allowed for things to take place instantly and let the ideas flow to every level of operations. Knowing what was happening, no matter who you were, was just normal. Bob was starting to realize that this was going to have to change. He had no physical way to directly communicate with his immediate supervisor, General Garret who had placed his headquarters at RAF Merlin. Yet the General wanted to still confer with Bob as if they still had those video chat programs. It meant Bob had to spend too much time away from his command and that was a big problem.

It was also why Bob was somewhat surprised when he walked into Garrets office. His staff had looked busy on the way in but, the General did too. Jim was on his feet, obviously about to leave, and let his colonel know right off the bat, “I knew you were coming. Glad you didn’t take your time.”

The tension was obvious even if Bob resisted. He still wanted to know, “how did that happen? It’s not exactly like I can radio ahead.” There were phone lines that ran from Seau-Neaut to other places, including RAF Merlin but, the US Army had gotten into the habit of not using them since they were not very secure. In this case, the way Bob was seeing it, they had other leaks and he could guess who.

Garret did not surprise Bob when he said, “the elves have a full and detailed report. As you might can tell from the way things are running around here, they aren’t very happy about it.”

While Bob was not too surprised about the elves knowing, particularly the Olyan-Notae since the advisors were mostly from that sect, he was completely confounded as to why they would be upset. “It’s a couple of fucking eggs for Christ’s sake! What’s there to get upset about?”

This was most definitely not the conversation that Bob was expecting to have. He had thought he was coming here to discuss the redeployment of his task force, preferably, sending it back to Coven Hill. Now Garret was telling him, “I have no clue what’s got their panties in a wad. I’ve got Bunker on the phone crying at me every ten minutes, and he wants us both in Cheau-Gan, ASAP. We’re actually flying to the embassy, if you can believe that.”

That was even more surprising to Bob, “I thought the elves didn’t allow that?”

“Apparently they do now,” Jim told his colonel and it proved all too true. A lynx IAF chopper, with elf pilots instead of the dragons that Bob was used to seeing, flew them straight to the US Embassy in Cheau-Gan. Bunker was waiting for them right at the helipad and he quickly escorted his two top military officials to an inside briefing room.

The ambassador’s only comment on the way in was, “I think we royally screwed the pooch on this one.” Once inside and away from any possible listening devices, ones that no one were even sure that the elves had in the first place, Bunker asked his men, “where are the eggs now?”

The General deferred to his colonel who then said, “Arbuckle has them. If we’re lucky, they’re already at Coven Hill. If not, then they are definitely on the way there.”

“Lucky?” Bunker was not confused by this. He acted more angry, “luck is not a word I would use to describe our current situation colonel. What we have here is a full blown diplomatic incident, one that I have to deal with.”

It looked as if Bob were about to say something along the lines of, “why don’t you do what you get paid to do. We held up our end.” Garret cut his man off and asked the ambassador, “sir, what exactly are their objections to this? Maybe we can find a deal we can all live with.”

“Oh yeah,” the ambassador was not convinced, “like I didn’t think of that General.” He went from sarcastic back to angry, “I’ve had a parade of palace flunkies through here all morning, or whatever goddamn time of day it is, and none of them were willing to talk under the table. Hell some of the bastards walked in to my office and started doing some kind of yodeling shit.”

Bob was about to say something but, he got a nasty look from Garret. Bob went on anyway and tried to prove that no matter how much everyone wanted to hand him his ass on a platter, he could still be reasonable, “mister Ambassador, do we know where this is coming from? Who is it and which faction are we dealing with here?”

“Near as I can tell,” Bunker replied with far less resolution and just a hint of defeat, “it’s all coming from the palace. That’s only cause it’s where all these flunkies are coming from.”

“Begging the ambassador’s pardon,” Bob continued, “wouldn’t it be a good idea if we found out who is pissed, then we can, maybe, figure out why?”

Bunker slapped his forehead, “such usual advice does the military bring. What do you think I’ve been doing all day, colonel? Look, for right now, you two get to spend some quality time here at the embassy, till I can figure out what these fucking elves want. I’m sure as hell this is all about something they think they can get.”
“Again,” Bob replied, “begging the ambassador’s pardon. I have a task force to run and I can’t do that from here. Can’t you just call me back when you find out?”

“Hell no,” Bunker grumbled, “How am I supposed to do that colonel? Maybe I can get a call out too you but, maybe, I can’t. Then how long is it going to take for you to get back here? The way these people work, if you can call them people, is pretty damn fickle. You might have the guy you need to talk with for all of five seconds. You have to be on the spot or he’s gone and the whole damn thing starts all over again.”

“Sir,” Garret asked this time, “how long do you expect this to take? I don’t think the colonel emphasized exactly how crucial it is for him to be in the field right now.”

Bunker put his finger down hard on the conference table, “not as fucking crucial as this is, not right now General. So you two go get comfortable.”

“Sir,” Bob put out.

He nearly got his head bit off by Bunker, “what?”

“Exactly why is this so crucial right now,” Bob tried being reasonable again, even if it wasn’t working.

“In case you two military geniuses haven’t been notified yet,” Bunker was nearly spitting, “the Noveus-Faeyu closed off the temple to all sorts of traffic.”

That was alarming and Garret raised his voice when he stated, “that’s a violation of our agreement! What exactly have they restricted?”

“Well,” Bunker said, “all military travel has been suspended. Fortunately they didn’t cut off the diplomatic communications. Certain trade items have been stopped and turned around but, others they’ve let through.”

All Bob heard was “military travel” and after that he paid little attention to the rest. He spoke up, “we can’t tolerate that. I might be drawing most of my supplies from local sources but there are things we need from the pipeline that we just can’t get here.”

“I am well aware of that colonel,” Bunker was still snorting, “however, there isn’t shit I can do about it till they decide to open things back up. The only question I have for you is, will this effect your combat operations?”

“Um,” Bob just shrugged and replied, “ a little but, we can defend ourselves if we have to.”

Garret was not so optimistic with his appraisal, “I wouldn’t go that far. The fact is they’re putting the lives of our people at risk. Those very same people who volunteered to come here and help them. It’s not a tolerable situation and we have a plan for this very thing, sir.”

The ambassador was not happy, “Emerald City? Hell no, we are not going there General.”

“We can do it sir,” Garret replied.

Bunker threw his hands up, “maybe we can and then maybe we can’t? That’s not the problem General. What happens after? Do you really think the Feyland government is going to be too eager about dealing with us if we do something like that. Right now, as things stand, we’ve got the in on this world. If we screw the pooch here you can damn well bet that somebody else, maybe the Chinese or the French, are going to be all over this.”

Garret simply nodded, “if you say so Mister Ambassador. It’s your call.”

“Damn right it is,” Bunker said thumping the table again, “and Washington was very specific about when we could use that plan. In my judgment we are not there yet. Now you too go get settled in, if we’re lucky we’ll get this settled very quickly. Till then I want you at my beck and call.”

Bob knew what that meant. He was going to be here for a while. He was going to have to get word to Pong and let him know. Fortunately they were used to Bob being away and that was even if Bob was not. The one thing that Bob had not resolved, as he was walking down the hall with Garret, was the mentioning of the Emerald City plan. Bob did not show it in the meeting but, he agreed with the ambassador. Bringing it up was even insane.

That was why Bob quietly asked Garret, “you weren’t serious about Emerald City, where you?”

“Fuck no,” Garret easily replied with a sly smile. “I just used it to get him off my ass. If you ever get your star, Bob, you are going to learn that generals do the chewing. We’re not too happy about getting chewed.”

“Fair enough sir,” Bob replied. He still didn’t like it.

After they checked in with the military attaché’s office, and Bob found himself waiting to draw some quarters at the embassy, he decided that he could do that in a more pleasant surrounding than some cubicle. He was still in his field dress, even if he had found a place to store his gear, when he sat down on a patio recliner that was located next to the pool.

Bob did not even recognize the girl in the bikini who was stretched out next to him. She had on sun glasses and must have been asleep because Bob had been there a while before she snapped up and said with some shock, “Colonel Isaacs! Sir, um, I didn’t….”

“Relax,” Bob waived off the reaction. It was pretty clear this little girl was not going too. She was even looking for a way to cover herself as she stumbled over her words. She finally found a towel and covered up before Bob asked, “who are you exactly? Do we know each other?”

The girl took her sun glasses off, “specialist… um, I mean Sergeant Thompson, sir.”

Now Bob knew exactly who he was talking too. He thought they had already sent this girl home. Bob tried to relax the jumpy little sergeant in the bikini, “again, just take it easy sergeant. Even though I’m dressed like it, we’re not in the field. Kind of hard to see your new stripes on that thing you’re wearing so, how about, right now, we just call it even, ok?” That made the girl even more self conscious about her clothing, or lack thereof, and Bob had to tell her, “here at the pool, I’m out of uniform. What are you still doing here anyway?”

“Um,” it seemed that nothing was going to make this girl less nervous. She was still trying to figure out how to talk, “sorry Colonel. They sent us over here, told us we had to get briefed by the Public Affairs people. God, I don’t know why. It’s not like everybody and their brother hasn’t already tried to tell us what to say, um, you know, when we get home.”

That figured. Bob knew they wanted to use these two for all sorts of things, public relations was one of the primary ones. It wasn’t exactly what people joined the army to do but, it was a part of the job. Bob just wished that the PAD’s actually knew what the hell they were doing. They were media savvy to a point but, only to a point. Those guys never got over their army mindsets and it was something that the civilian world would never understand.

Of course, Bob had some good news for the little sergeant and, if Bob understood her correctly, his departing company commander as well. He told the little girl, “well get ready to spend more time out here having sun and fun, sergeant.”

That took her off guard and her response sounded almost normal, “what is that?” Then the girl caught herself and nervously added, “um, sir.”

Bob snickered at her dual personality and then said, “cause you’re stuck here, just like me. Our Fey friends closed the border, so to speak. Military travel is currently suspended.”

That alarmed the little girl, “they can’t do that! We were supposed to be leaving tomorrow! I was going to have family waiting for me and…”

“Well,” Bob took it with a grain of salt, “they did sergeant. I am sure your family will understand.”

It was obvious that the colonel did not know her family. Angie excused herself, gathered her things, and then went tromping through the lobby of the billets. It reminded her, a lot, of a fancy hotel. If she was in a cage then at least it was a gilded one. She did not go back up to her room though. She went and found her traveling companion right where she expected him to be. Nate Caldwell was outside the front door and smoking.

The captain was a little surprised to see his sergeant outside the pool area. He waived to her, “you going to walk around all day, dressed like that?”

“I get treated a lot better than in uniform,” Angie told him. Then she turned on the scowl, “we’re stuck here Nate. I just knew some bullshit like this was going to happen!”

What the hell was she talking about? Nate thought it over for a second and then asked, “don’t tell me? The public affairs people lost our scripts?”

“I wish,” the brooding twenty something replied, “those damn bastard elves is who did it. I just ran into the colonel. He told me they closed down the Dell.”

Nate looked at the cigarette in his hand. Then he looked down at the pack in his pocket. He realized he had better go buy some more before the commissary ran out. Then he asked, “why the hell would they do that?”

“I don’t know,” Angie exclaimed!

“Fine,” Nate tried talking to her like they were not both in casual wear, wasting time, and pretty much ignoring the usual protocols. He said, “no reason to get upset. I wasn’t looking all that forward to the dog and pony show they had planned for us anyway. You know that already but, I’m sure this is going to blow over. We just follow our orders, stick to the job, and everything’s fine. Right?”

Angie put her hand on her hip and it was quite clear she was no longer talking to an officer. Nate even wondered if the girl saw him that way anymore, “you know, I always knew that you were the go along to get along type.”

That did surprise Nate, “is that what they said about me?” He thought some more and wondered, “I always thought I was a good CO.”

“You were,” Angie replied, “mostly anyhow. I’ve had worse. It’s just sometimes I wish you weren’t always blowing everything off like you do. Sometimes that’s not what people need to hear. Sometimes when you’re depending on somebody, you want them to take charge and…”

Nate injected, “lead?”

“I guess that sums it up,” Angie said.

Nate now realized Angie wasn’t the only one forgetting her place in the grand cosmic scheme of what was called the US Army. He was talking to a person right now, not a sergeant. He told her, “or is what you’re really saying here Angie, you want me to do something about all this? Its that really what it comes down too?”

Angie got in his face, “hell yes! I can’t do anything. I’m just a little peon flunky. Aren’t you supposed to be my boss, and taking care of me?”

“What?” Nate was kind of surprised by that, “um, in case you haven’t noticed. I’m a little peon flunky around here too. This isn’t Delta, this is the real…” Nate caught himself, “ok it’s the state department in another universe but, the point is, it’s not the army. I don’t have anymore say in what’s going on than you do.”

Angie’s nostrils flared. She stomped her foot on the ground, and she walked off. Nate just shrugged, “what the hell was that all about.”