Carnifex. Part 55

"Well...of course," Louis agreed.

"It's not so wonderful for people of my generation though," she said. "We have to wait and wait and..."

"We've had this conversation before, Lucretia. You'll just have to wait until..."

"No, I won't, Father," the daughter said. "I'm glad you like your coffee."

It was at about that time that the Marquis of Amnesty noticed that his vision had become very narrow, and that his hand trembled as he lifted the cup back to his lips.

Chapter Twenty-three.

De l'audace, encore de l'audace, toujours de l'audace.

Napoleon, quoting Georges Jacques Danton

12/8/469 AC, Cricket 4-15 The scout plane carrying Carrera and his small party flew alone. Above it, the thundering transports, gunships, and attack aircraft moved in formation. Below, flights of helicopters, some the huge IM-62s, ferried men, supplies and equipment forward.

Carrera's mind wandered a bit, as it sometimes did these days. He thought of his original group and where they were now. Most were still with the legions in one capacity or another. Kennison had left when his term was up and, sorry though he'd been to see him go, Carrera had understood. Soult and Mitch.e.l.l were warrants now, teaching on the Isla Real. Well, they'd gotten a little too old and senior to carry my radios but...I do miss not having those boys here with me. Well, they'd gotten a little too old and senior to carry my radios but...I do miss not having those boys here with me. Daugher and Bowman had been killed, in different actions. They'd died as they'd liked to live, fighting to the end. Tom Christian had taken a second retirement and then immediately gone to work for the legions as a civilian. Daugher and Bowman had been killed, in different actions. They'd died as they'd liked to live, fighting to the end. Tom Christian had taken a second retirement and then immediately gone to work for the legions as a civilian. Greedy b.a.s.t.a.r.d, Greedy b.a.s.t.a.r.d, Carrera thought, smiling slightly. All the others were still on the job, most of them in uniform back on the Carrera thought, smiling slightly. All the others were still on the job, most of them in uniform back on the Isla Real Isla Real. Parilla was President of the rump of the Republic.

In the Cricket, Carrera used half his attention to keep a mental tally of where everyone should should be, modified by the rarely broadcast code word for a delay or advance in the schedule. be, modified by the rarely broadcast code word for a delay or advance in the schedule.

Just shy of the Kashmiri border the Cricket dropped down behind some mountains and began to circle. A dozen helicopters pa.s.sed, turned a few miles to the north, and began to set down their loads on a barren and fairly flat hilltop.

1st Maniple (Heavy Mortar), Artillery Cohort, in firing position. Check. Maniple (Heavy Mortar), Artillery Cohort, in firing position. Check.

UEPF Spirit of Peace Wallenstein sat her command chair on the ship's bridge fuming. It wasn't enough that she'd sold her soul to Robinson in exchange for a jump in caste. No, that price might have been worth it. But to be cheated out of her price? There was a reason that people used to say "h.e.l.l hath no fury..."

"Captain, we've got a lot of Novan air traffic near where the Admiral set down," announced one of the lower caste sensor operators, turning away from his console to face his captain.

"Identification?" she asked.

The intelligence officer piped in half a second later. "Almost total radio silence, Captain. Based on flight paths I'm pretty sure they're coming from the mercenary base near Jalala, Pashtia. Their target looks to be the Salafi base in southern Kashmir."

Oh, my. Wallenstein was never so lovely as when her face lit with a smile. She looked particularly beautiful now. Revenge will be sweet. Revenge will be sweet.

"Ignore them," she commanded.

"But..."

"Ignore them!" she insisted.

"But shouldn't the High Admiral be warned?"

"He knows," she lied, forcing her brain to think quickly. "This is just what he's been waiting for. Send to all ships of the Peace Fleet to cut off all communication except with this ship. Now."

The Base If the sight of a large column of vehicles carrying armed men and blaring their horns was a shock to the leader of the guards at the pa.s.s, he failed to show it. He did raise an arm to halt the lead vehicle.

Masood had the right look and the right accent. Shorn of his uniform, he stood up in the lead vehicle, one hand resting lightly on a machine gun mounted to the roll bar. "Allahu Akbar!" He called to the sentry leader at the western entrance to the fortress valley. "We have come to join you in the fight against the infidel crusaders. Rejoice, brothers!"

The leader had had no word of any large group of reinforcements coming. On the other hand, they hadn't been told not not to expect any. And, in the closed world of the Salafis and the Yithrabi culture from which they sprang, information was power. It was always horded, rarely fully revealed. There really wasn't anything inherently suspicious about a column of armed men who looked the part showing up and requesting to join the struggle. This one was a little large, to be sure, but hadn't Mustafa promised them all a growing force in their struggle against the infidel? Apparently he hadn't been lying. to expect any. And, in the closed world of the Salafis and the Yithrabi culture from which they sprang, information was power. It was always horded, rarely fully revealed. There really wasn't anything inherently suspicious about a column of armed men who looked the part showing up and requesting to join the struggle. This one was a little large, to be sure, but hadn't Mustafa promised them all a growing force in their struggle against the infidel? Apparently he hadn't been lying.

The sentries waved the column through while the men riding the vehicles stood and cheered. To the flanks, cavalrymen fired standard Samsonovs into the air with the gleeful abandon of schoolboys. Soon enough, the entire camp was cheering while men and women emerged from caves and tents to add their voices and the rattle of their rifles to the air.

Jimenez, face nearly covered, looked out the side of the cross-country sedan as it made a turn into an open area at the base of the central ma.s.sif. He noticed a large cave with a camouflage net over it. His eyes lit upon five rough crosses erected in the open area. Children played at the foot of the crosses. Men, or what was left of them, hung stiff and dead above the children, one of whom poked at a body with a stick. Still in their legionary battle dress trousers, but stripped of all other equipment and adornment, Jimenez recognized the remnants of the lost Cazador team.

You are going to pay for that...with usury.

And then he saw a head move.

Sergeant Sevilla heard the blaring of the column as though through a series of baffles. His grip of reality was quite poor by this point. He head was filled with rushing noises and his eyes went into and out of focus regularly. With a bit of the little strength remaining to him he forced his chin off of his chest and his head up enough to see.

More of the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds come to gloat and jeer? May they burn in h.e.l.l.

Jimenez, riding in the back next to Masood, stood up and whispered, "One of our men, over there on those crosses....he's still alive."

Masood looked himself and saw that this was true.

Hand still resting on his machine gun, Masood asked, "What do you want to do, sir?"

Jimenez asked himself, If we warn only the vehicle leaders and just we and they open fire on that ma.s.s will the rest of the scouts catch on quickly enough? It wasn't in the plan but...G.o.d...what a target! Worth the chance. And then...those are If we warn only the vehicle leaders and just we and they open fire on that ma.s.s will the rest of the scouts catch on quickly enough? It wasn't in the plan but...G.o.d...what a target! Worth the chance. And then...those are our our men. men.

Sitting back down Jimenez keyed the mike that led to the small, short range radios carried by each of the leaders. "On my command, I want you to blast that crowd. Try to hit only armed men...but don't be a fanatic about it."

Masood, who like the others heard from an earpiece stuck in one ear, looked down at Jimenez and raised one eyebrow. You sure about this? You sure about this?

Jimenez's eyes narrowed as he gave an affirmative nod. Oh, yes, I'm sure. Oh, yes, I'm sure.

So be it. Smiling still, Masood waved his right hand, genially, acknowledging the cheers of the mujahadin and their families. The welcoming rifle fire dropped gradually as magazines were emptied. When, like a bag of almost completely microwaved popcorn, the firing had dropped to no more than an occasional pop Masood threw his head back and laughed heroically. Smiling still, Masood waved his right hand, genially, acknowledging the cheers of the mujahadin and their families. The welcoming rifle fire dropped gradually as magazines were emptied. When, like a bag of almost completely microwaved popcorn, the firing had dropped to no more than an occasional pop Masood threw his head back and laughed heroically.

"In...three...two...one....FIRE!" Jimenez ordered.

The Subadar lifted his machine gun off the roll bar, grasped it with both hands, swung it to the right to face the crowd, slammed the b.u.t.t into his shoulder and pulled the trigger.

The gun was a typical Volgan model, not the newer M-26 used by the Legion. This was no problem; the slower rate of fire was more than enough for such a tightly packed crowd. Cheers turned to screams of pain and dismay as Masood and a couple of dozen others swept their weapons across the crowd on both sides. The fire laid them out in windrows, cutting them down like wheat being harvested.

There were probably children in there and certainly there were women. Whatever they were, they were simply targets as the guns bowled them over.

The Scouts were no slouches. Already somewhat hyped up on adrenaline, it took a mere fraction of a second for them to join their fire to the Subadar's. Their fire lashed out into the crowd cutting down the Salafis by the hundreds. The rest ran screaming to either side, bullets in the back dropping many of them dead or screaming in pain. Mothers ran frantically to and fro trying to find children to carry to safety. The Pashtun didn't deliberately target these. Avoiding them, however, was not always possible or practical.

The Salafis returned fire, some of them. But with the confusion, the shock, and the jostling by the panic-stricken, their fire was to little effect.

Jimenez was shocked as well, half at the destruction and half at the surprise. Leaning forward he tapped the driver, hard, on the back of the head. "Ram that central cross," he shouted. Even as he did, the cavalry-That kid Cano is quick on the uptake, isn't he?- began racing for the entrances to the fortress valley, Cano's going straight ahead while Rachman peeled off and wheeled to the rear. began racing for the entrances to the fortress valley, Cano's going straight ahead while Rachman peeled off and wheeled to the rear.

Life for the crucified rarely contains any humor. Nonetheless, when he saw the fire lance out from the vehicles Sevilla began to laugh and curse hysterically. "Die you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, you motherf.u.c.kers...hahaha...scream and f.u.c.king bleed, you pigf.u.c.kers..."

Like some of the others, Bashir had dropped to the ground as soon as the firing from the newly arrived vehicles began. He had only a pickax in his hands anyway. This, the absence of a firearm, might have been what spared him.

Laying under the fire, Bashir twisted his head. He was surprised to see one lone sedan speed off to ram one of the crosses, eliciting a scream from the crucified man that rose even over the roar of gunfire.

They couldn't be here just to save those men...that man. But they intend to, even so.

Whispering, "Allah give me strength," Bashir raised the pickax, head first, to show he was unarmed. Then, when no bullets struck it, he stood erect and reversed his grip.

Still unstruck, though bullets flew all around him scything down the fleeing crowd, he began slowly to walk toward the crosses. His speed picked up as he neared them. Bashir arrived and the cross tumbled over onto its back at almost exactly the same moment. He immediately shouted the only name he knew among the men of the Legion-"Fernandez! Fernandez! Fernandez!"-then began trying to pry the spikes that went through the Sevilla's heels.

The heel spikes came out fairly easily. Both ankles were free of the cross by the time Masood joined Bashir.

"How the f.u.c.k do you know Fernandez?"

"He sent me here! Now help me get the arms free!"

The arms were tougher; the spikes had been driven further into the wood. Still, with two men straining on the pickax handle, they came free quickly enough.

While Masood and this new convert tried to save his man from the cross, Jimenez turned the other way and walked the line of vehicles "Up the hill! Up the hill," he screamed over the sound of the rifles. No one paid him any mind until he began walking the pa.s.sageway in the bus, forcing the men to cease fire and begin to dismount. Some kept up the fire while others crawled out the left side windows or risked exposure in leaving by the door.

The trucks had less problem. From those the scouts merely grabbed a pack, their own or someone else's, jumped over the side and began to run to surmount the looming ma.s.sif above. For the four wheel drive vehicles there was even less problem. Some of these turned left and drove at least as far as the stream at the base of the ma.s.sif before dismounting. Within a couple of minutes of opening fire there was a flood of Pashtun Scouts splashing through the waist deep stream or surging upward.

Jimenez walked the line under cover of the vehicles, making sure the men forgot the easy targets and remembered the mission. He went first to the tail of the column, shouting and pointing, then turned around and reversed his steps.

He met Masood where he had left him, by the crucifixion site. A medic from the Scouts was already working on the saved man, who announced, repeatedly and heartbreakingly, "Sevilla, Juan B, Sergeant, Legion del Cid Legion del Cid, Cazador Tercio, Serial Number Two-Seven-Zero...Sevilla, Juan B..." The blood encrusted, oozing holes from the spikes showed on both the sergeant's wrists and heels.

"Who is this?" Jimenez asked, pointing at Bashir.

"Fernandez's spy. And he's got a story."

"Story?"

"There's a cave over there," Masood answered. "He says we need to look in it." To Bashir he said, "Get this man to safety."

"Let's hurry then." The party of three, including the driver, trotted over to the cave. Bashir picked Sevilla up, slung him across his shoulders and headed up the mountain in the wake of the Scouts. He thought he would be less likely to be shot that way.

A bullet rang out from inside the cave as soon as the camouflage curtain moved slightly. It sounded strange, nothing like the twenty-two- to thirty-caliber favored on most of Terra Nova. Jimenez and Masood immediately fell to the ground and fired several long bursts into the cavern until they were rewarded with a scream.

When they did go past the curtain it was to see one man, uniformed, bleeding on the rocky floor and...

"Holy s.h.i.t!" Jimenez was stunned. "The f.u.c.king UE is here? I knew we had enemies in high places but this..."

The hatch to the UE shuttle was open, its integral flight of steps lowered. They looked inside and saw nothing. Then they pulled open the cargo bay doors and...

Jimenez ran outside, pulling a small but extremely powerful radio from his belt as he did so. "Patricio? G.o.ddammit, Patricio, f.u.c.k radio silence. Get on the horn, G.o.ddammit!"

"Carrera," crackled back.

"Come quick, compadre compadre. Come really quick. Don't spare the horses. Accept any any level of casualties. There are eleven, I say again, level of casualties. There are eleven, I say again, f.u.c.king eleven f.u.c.king eleven, nuclear weapons here. Oh, and a United Earth transport but we machine gunned the s.h.i.t out of it."

"What the..."

"Just trust me. Come a runnin'."

Cricket 4-15 Eleven nukes? Good G.o.d. I didn't need my little play after all.

While he was thinking this, Jimenez came back on the radio. He sounded slightly out of breath as he said, "We found our lost Cazador squad... huff...huff...huff. huff...huff...huff. They were crucified. We saved one... They were crucified. We saved one... huff...huff...huff. huff...huff...huff. To do that we had to shoot up a substantial crowd.... To do that we had to shoot up a substantial crowd.... huff...huff...huff huff...huff...huff."

Jimenez continued explaining. "We really had no choice...But there's two effects of that... huff...huff...huff. huff...huff...huff. One is that we're trying to unf.u.c.k things on top of the central hill. We got pretty disorganized in the scramble... One is that we're trying to unf.u.c.k things on top of the central hill. We got pretty disorganized in the scramble... huff...huff. huff...huff. The other is that the north side of the base has The other is that the north side of the base has got got to be weaker now. The scouts killed hundreds of men of fighting age on that side when they opened up." to be weaker now. The scouts killed hundreds of men of fighting age on that side when they opened up."

"You're a.s.suming they a.s.sembled from where they were camped, and camped on the side they were to defend, right? Makes perfect sense. Let me think on it. Yeah, despite the confusion, it may make sense to switch the side for the main effort."

"Don't think too long, Patricio. There are maybe five hundred and fifty or so of us on this hill, plus a couple of hundred cavalry blocking the entrances, and we're surrounded by thousands of the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds."

Loud and clear over the radio came the rattling sound of incoming mortar fire, somewhere close to wherever Jimenez was.

"Roger. Artillery priority, minus the rocket launchers, is yours. Twenty-four 155mm are in range and ready. Twenty-four 160mm will be ready to fire...in..." Carrera looked up at a chart and then to a clock..."about seventeen minutes. Air support priority is yours. Expect nine sorties of Turbo-Finches to arrive in a few minutes followed by two more every ten minutes for the immediate future. Also three ANA-23 gunships on station continuously as per the plan. I'll be overhead in a few. Over."

"Roger," Jimenez answered. "Air and arty... huff huff ...priority to me." ...priority to me."

"Yes...and the Cazadors should be jumping right about...now. Carrera, out."

I intended to bring in one nuke as a cover and an excuse. Instead we find another eleven. Do I send that one back? No...I might have to blow that entire mountain to s.h.i.t and I can't be sure of being able to set off the captured ones. It stays in the plan...for now.

The Base While Subadar Masood and the other leaders tried to bring order out of chaos, Jimenez scanned the skies. Thin anti-aircraft fire was rising from the surrounding hills, thin mostly because the bulk of the 14.5 and 23mm weapons had already been overrun with the central ma.s.sif. Even now, small arms fire was breaking out all over the ma.s.sif as Salafi air defense gunners struggled to fight their way to their guns.