Starfist - Flashfire. Part 7

"So we don't even know if General Cazombi and his men are still holding out or are prisoners by now, do we?"

"No, but General Cazombi has quite a reputation as a fighter. He meant what he said in that message. We have no choice, barring another message announcing his surrender, except to send a relief force. And if Cazombi is forced to surrender, well, either we send a field army or two and a fleet to back it up, or we negotiate."

" 'G.o.d bless our troops,' " Chang-St.u.r.devant repeated. "At least this officer knows who really counts in our armed forces. Marcus, where do we get the troops and the vessels to send a force large enough to help these poor, brave-" her voice caught and she shook her head silently, sadly. "Well, dammit, Marcus, we are not going to negotiate with these people! I tried-we tried-every way we could to work out our differences, offered them every concession they asked for, and now this?" She gestured angrily at the message on her screen. "They didn't even have the courtesy to let us know in advance that they would attack. A sneak attack!" The color rushed back into her face. "Well, they're sure as h.e.l.l going to know when we responded to this-this outrage!"

"The Combined Chiefs are on their way here now."

"Good! I want that Marine, Aguinaldo, in on this, Marcus, I want him here more than anybody else." Chang-St.u.r.devant sighed. "I shall summon the rest of my cabinet and we shall agree on how to respond. Then I'll go before the Congress and read them General Cazombi's message. I'll inform them that I'm going to issue an Executive Order authorizing the deployment of troops to Ravenette to respond to a threat to the Confederation. I have that authority as President under the War Powers Section of our Const.i.tution. Our Congress is like all democratic deliberative bodies, Marcus; its members divided in their opinions, overly cautious, and slow to act. I'll get the votes for a war resolution, but not right now, not even with this," she gestured at Cazombi's message. "They've been in session debating our response since the Ordinance of Secession was issued. This should change everything but it'll take time. We can have only one response now.

"Now, Marcus, would you leave me alone for a while? When everyone gets here we'll meet in the secure conference room. My aides will let me know when you're ready." Berentus nodded and walked to the door. "Marcus? One more thing? Thanks for sticking by me. Stay close by until this is over, would you?"

"Good heavens, Admiral, it'll take that long to raise an effective force to relieve those poor devils?" Attorney General Huygens Long exclaimed.

"I'm afraid so, AG," Admiral Porter answered, glancing apologetically at the President. The other members of the Combined Chiefs nodded their a.s.sent. "We have to a.s.sume that once our force gets there they'll need to engage the enemy's fleet before a landing can be attempted and as the CIO has just informed us," he nodded at Clements Barksdale, the newly appointed Director of the Central Intelligence Organization, "and our own a.n.a.lysts agree, the secessionists' combined naval strength is potent. We'll also need time to organize the ground forces necessary to obtain a foothold on Ravenette if Fort Seymour is taken by the time they get there or to relieve the garrison if they've managed to hold out that long. That is the best we can do."

"So it is agreed. I will go before the Congress in a few moments and announce the attack on Fort Seymour. I shall not ask for a formal declaration of war, gentlemen, because I won't get it and I'm not going to show these people how divided we are. But I can order full mobilization of each member world's reserve forces. Admiral, the Chiefs shall coordinate the integration of those forces into our regular components and work out the deployment schedule. All this will be done with the greatest possible speed. Send a drone to General Cazombi, let him know we're coming, no details, of course, in case it falls into enemy hands. But we owe him and his troops that much. Admiral, you may proceed to the Congress now and meet me there in fifteen minutes. I want everyone else to go back to their offices and evaluate the impact this war will have upon our government's operations. We'll all meet here again, in full cabinet session, tomorrow morning. General Aguinaldo, Marcus, come with me for a moment."

The Minister of War and Marine Commandant followed Chang-St.u.r.devant into her private office. "General, this Cazombi, tell me what you know about him. I know he was the ranking officer at Fort Seymour but he was not responsible for the installation's defense? How did that come about? And Marcus says he had some dealings with your Marines."

"Yes, ma'am, it was over the Avionia affair. One of my officers, the company commander who was actually present at Avionia Station, was sued by the chief scientist there for making a decision that countermanded her orders about the treatment of captive Avionians. She later sued him personally. General Cazombi, who was also there at the time, appeared as a witness in his defense. The chief scientist died before the trial had proceeded very far and the whole thing was dropped. General Cazombi was the Director of Personnel for the Chiefs and I knew him as an honorable man and a courageous officer.

"I might also say, since he expressed this opinion to me, that he was very upset with the Chairman for not doing everything he could to squelch that trial, which we all believed was frivolous to begin with. Ma'am, may I add something? I think if anybody can hold out at Fort Seymour, it's Alistair Cazombi."

Chang-St.u.r.devant smiled. "Thank you, General. Now, Marcus, shall we?" She held out her arm, which Berentus took, and they left the room. "Marcus, I am afraid," she whispered.

"Don't be! We'll win."

"I know that. That's not what scares me. Oh, I'm sad about all our people who'll die in this war, the secessionists are our people too. But I'm afraid of the real threat that's out there somewhere, Marcus. It was a mistake, our keeping its presence a secret, I see that now."

"If they come back we'll deal with them just like we did on Kingdom."

She squeezed Marcus's hand. "Thanks, thanks very much. Okay. Now, we step into the arena and deal with the real threat to this Confederation!" Marcus did not know if she meant the Coalition or the Confederation Congress.

Representative Haggl Kutmoi, from Bulon, a portly gentleman known for his long-winded speeches and sarcasm, read from the Ordinance of Secession: " 'Whereas, in addition to the well-founded causes of complaint set forth by this Convention, in resolutions adopted against the party now in power on Earth, headed by Cynthia Chang-St.u.r.devant, who has, through the use of unwarranted military force slaughtered innocent citizens of Ravenette, we therefore resolve no longer to submit to such rule or remain in the Confederation of Human Worlds, which would be disgraceful and ruinous to the interests of the worlds whose representatives to this Convention have thus signed this Ordinance. Therefore, we do hereby declare and ordain that we resume to ourselves all rights and powers heretofore delegated to the government of the Confederation of Human Worlds . . .' and on and on honorable members, balderdash ad infinitum."

Representative Kutmoi drew himself up to his full shortness and glared at his fellows, most of whom were dozing at their places. For several days the Congress had been debating the Confederation's response to the Ordinance, and tempers were growing short. Given the late hour, they would all have been home in bed except that the President had asked them to remain in session for a little while longer, to hear an announcement. Suddenly there was a stirring at the rear of the chamber. All heads turned as Admiral Porter and the Combined Chiefs filed in and quietly took seats in the rows before the podium where the President of the Congress waited impatiently to give the floor to Chang-St.u.r.devant.

"The dirty b.a.s.t.a.r.ds have gone and done it!" Kutmoi shouted, guessing immediately the import of Chang-St.u.r.devant's presence.

"I would remind the honorable gentleman from Bulon that such language is not appropriate in this august body," the President of the Congress intoned. But n.o.body was listening because the arrival of the Chiefs had stirred them all awake and all eyes were focused down the aisle at the main entrance to the chamber. "Ladies and gentlemen!" the president shouted, rising to his feet, "Madam Chang-St.u.r.devant!" Suddenly everyone was on their feet, clapping and shouting. Chang-St.u.r.devant, nodding and smiling, followed closely by Marcus Berentus, slowly walked down the aisle. Marcus took a seat with the Chiefs and she mounted the podium, shook hands with the President of the Congress, and turned to face the members.

"Ladies and gentlemen, as of oh-six-thirty-one Ravenette time, on the sixth day of the third month of this year, a state of war has existed between this Confederation and those worlds aligned with Ravenette in the so-called Coalition of Worlds-the Secessionist Coalition as it has also come to be known."

Outraged shouts and screams filled the chamber and it was some time before the sergeant at arms could restore order. When the delegates had finally settled down, a deathly quiet had fallen over them as they hung on her every word. Chang-St.u.r.devant read General Cazombi's message. When she was done many of the delegates were openly weeping at their desks. "Our casualties have been heavy," she announced. "As of the time this message was sent, of the more than eighteen thousand men and women who composed the garrison at Fort Seymour, only eight thousand were fit for duty. We do not know what has happened since." She paused. "The garrison may have fallen by now. I hope and I believe that the brave soldiers under General Cazombi are still fighting, fighting on in the belief that we shall not abandon them"-delegates shouted "No! No! No!" over and over again. "Therefore, I come before you now to inform you that I have issued an executive order for the mobilization of all the armed forces at our disposal, and my military chiefs are already organizing a force to dispatch to Ravenette with all possible speed to relieve the garrison at Fort Seymour. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for attending me. I shall keep you fully informed as events unfold."

Few in the Congress of Worlds slept that night.

General Davis Lyons sat impatiently before the newly formed Committee on the Conduct of the War. The committee had been created by the Secessionist Congress shortly after commencement of hostilities, its membership composed of representatives of the Secessionist Coalition worlds, none of whom knew anything about the conduct of war. But General Davis was honor bound to appear before them and show them the respect due the members of the Coalition's ruling body.

"These were very generous surrender terms you offered General Cazombia, sir," the chairman intoned.

"I believe his name is Cazombi, sir. Yes, the terms are generous because the man and his soldiers deserve to be treated humanely."

"But General, here you offered to repatriate them! Return them to a Confederation world so they could fight again? You offered the same terms to the naval personnel and the diplomats."

"Yessir. In the case of the latter, it has been the custom since time immemorial to repatriate diplomatic personnel at the outbreak of hostilities between the warring powers. For the military personnel, I did not want to be bothered with the care, feeding, and guarding of thousands of prisoners. We are not set up for that."

"We could have sent them to Sagunto, General, where there would've been plenty of room for them and they would not have required a large contingent of guards to keep an eye on them."

General Davis controlled his temper with effort. He had more important business to attend to than to sit before the committee, which he had been doing, patiently, for more than an hour. "Sir, Sagunto is hardly yet a settled world, fit for our own citizens. Interning thousands of prisoners of war there would be tantamount to a death sentence for them."

"We are not concerned with the welfare of our enemies, General," the chairman responded.

"Well, I am, sir!"

"General," it was a member from Ruspina, Davis could not remember his name, "when do you expect to conquer the remaining forces at Fort Seymour?"

"I do not expect to do that, sir."

The committee members looked at one another in astonishment. "You do not? But you have the forces! Are you just going to leave them there?"

"Yes. They are no threat to us because they aren't going anywhere and besides, I've lost enough of my men already. I will not sacrifice more in further attacks on a very well fortified position such as General Cazombi has built on Pohick Bay."

"But-but . . . !"

"Gentlemen, those men out there are our hostages. As long as they are there the Confederation is obliged to relieve them. The main battle of this war will be fought right here, gentlemen. I am preparing for that that battle, not wasting my time and the lives of our troops reducing that fortress. The Confederation must attempt to relieve that garrison. Given the current dispersion of its forces and the short period of time they have to effect a relief, they can only do that piecemeal and I shall defeat their forces in detail. I have recommended to the president, and he has accepted that recommendation, that the government be moved to a safer location and the city evacuated in antic.i.p.ation of the heavy fighting that shall eventually occur here." battle, not wasting my time and the lives of our troops reducing that fortress. The Confederation must attempt to relieve that garrison. Given the current dispersion of its forces and the short period of time they have to effect a relief, they can only do that piecemeal and I shall defeat their forces in detail. I have recommended to the president, and he has accepted that recommendation, that the government be moved to a safer location and the city evacuated in antic.i.p.ation of the heavy fighting that shall eventually occur here."

"General, that is why this committee is sitting here now," the chairman shot back.

"Sir, that is why this committee will not be sitting here much longer!"

"General Lyons," the chairman's face had gone brick red, "you have been an arrogant and uncooperative witness before this committee! We are considering recommending to President Summers that he relieve you of your command!"

"I serve at his pleasure, sir. Now, if you will excuse me, I have important matters to attend to."

"General Lyons, one more thing! One more thing, please," the chairman insisted. "The next time you offer surrender terms they will have been composed by the members of this committee! I'll be d.a.m.ned

if we're going to coddle these people! That is all." "Sir, we're d.a.m.ned if we don't."

Charlette Odinloc had returned to Donnie Caloon's apartment the night before the war started and now she was stuck there.

"Geez, Hon, they're really dusting it up out there!" Donnie exclaimed.

"Yeah, Donnie, I couldn't help hearing." Sergeant Odinloc tried to hide her distress. The fighting had started and she was trapped in the city. She mentally kicked herself for coming back, but she had desperately wanted that ride in the country to learn about the enemy's troop dispositions and the G2 had agreed. But her place was back at Fort Seymour, with her comrades, not holed up in Donnie's apartment. She'd been trapped there for five days now.

"Folks are sayin' they're evacuatin' the city, movin' us all out somewheres! What do you make of all this?" There was real concern in Donnie's voice. "I wish I could join up," he added, pensively, hands thrust deep into his pockets.

"Donnie, if anybody finds out who I really am, I'll be arrested. I can't get back to the fort. You're the only hope I have to stay free. You don't want me to spend the rest of my life in a POW camp, do you?"

"Oh, no, Hon, no! Gee, yeah, that would be bad news, wouldn't it?"

"Donnie, since your company has closed down and they're evacuating the city, why don't we go back to your hometown?"

"Ya mean it?" he brightened. "Gee, yeah! Mom'd love to meet you!" But just as quickly Donnie's face fell. "I don't have no money, Hon! How we gonna get home? It's halfway around the world! I spent all my money on this place!" He was almost in tears.

"I have money." Charlette had generous funds for expenses. She fumbled in her clothes and withdrew a large wad of bills that she handed to Donnie.

"Geez! I din' know they paid you soldiers so well!" he exclaimed, counting the money, his eyes widening as each bill turned over in his hands.

"I saved it up. Where'd you say you live?"

"Cuylerville, over in Loudon County," Donnie answered, still counting. "Holy chickens.h.i.t, babybugs, we are rich! This is enough to get us there and back twice!"

"Where, exactly, is Cuylerville, Donnie?"

"Ah, about ten thousand kilometers east of here. You don't get seasick, do ya? We'll have to take a boat. But with this much money we can have us a room to ourselves and, y'know, f.u.c.k our way across the ocean!" he laughed and waved the bills in the air. "We can leave tonight!"

"I'm looking forward to that," she said, dryly. "We need a cover story to explain who I am, Donnie, while we're traveling, you know? In case anybody asks? I don't have any papers, any ID, anything like that, you know."

"Yep. You'll be my sister. I don't have any of that ID stuff either, so who's to know?"

"Well, Donnie, that might not work so well. We'll be on that ship a while and you know what we'll be doing, things a guy doesn't usually do with his sister?" "Oh, sheeyit, you're right!" Donnie slapped his forehead and laughed. "Well, we're engaged, then. You used to work for my company. I'll tell you all about it before we leave. Think that'd work?"

"Might just do, Donnie, might just. Ah, one more thing? Before we leave?"

"Why sure, good-looking lady with the big jugs!" Donnie laughed, tossing the roll of bills on the table and jumping into the bed. "I think you ought to know I missed my period."

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

In the weeks since the survivors of the Fort Seymour garrison had been surrounded on the Pohick Bay Peninsula, General Cazombi's engineers had deepened and strengthened the fortifications and his command post had been moved even deeper inside the complex. Not that Cazombi ever stayed there very long. He spent most of his waking hours out touring the fighting positions, encouraging his troops, making eye contact with them.

Now the same enemy colonel who'd brought Lyons's first surrender terms was back again with another offer. For this meeting Cazombi had ordered the emissary brought to the CP to give him some idea of how well dug in his force was and to show him that morale was high without revealing anything about the complex defenses.

"You're looking fit, General," the colonel said, blinking his eyes as the blindfold was taken off. The command post was a hub of activity and to the enemy officer the soldiers there actually seemed to be enjoying themselves. They were; General Cazombi had ordered sandwiches for everyone to give the impression they were feeding well.

"We meet again, Colonel," Cazombi held out his hand. From inside a tunic pocket the colonel produced a crystal and handed it to him. "So you've agreed to surrender, have you?" Cazombi permitted himself a slight twitch along the right side of his face, which for him pa.s.sed as a grin.

"Not quite, sir," the colonel smiled grimly.

"So General Davis has now stepped into the twenty-fifth century," Cazombi remarked. He hefted the tiny crystal speculatively. "Writing on paper has its advantages. Wait here, Colonel, until I find a scanner and we'll talk some more."

In an isolated cubicle Cazombi, his chief of staff, and several other officers read the contents of the crystal. "We can never agree to something like this!" The others, reading over the general's shoulder nodded their concurrence. "Anybody know where Sorca is right now?" Since Cazombi had pulled rank on the brigadier and taken charge of the survivors, Sorca had been making himself scarce in the command post. "Go find him," he told his operations officer. "I want him and his officers to see this. I don't think Lyons himself wrote this-this-garbage, but note one thing? They've called for a cease-fire while we consider these demands. That's time, gentlemen, and time is what we need."

"A big Wanderjahr Canfil tomato is what I need right now," Cazombi's operations officer laughed.

"I think that's what the guy who wrote these terms needs," Cazombi replied, referring to the wellknown laxative effect the Canfil tomato had on people not used to it. He didn't need reminding either that the first signs of dysentery had already made their appearance among the defenders. "No talk about food, Colonel. Go find Sorca, that'll take your mind off eating."

When Brigadier General Sorca finally arrived in the command post he looked sleek, well-groomed, and rested. Obviously, Cazombi noted, he was not suffering the same degree of deprivation as his men. He was accompanied by two of his officers, his operations officer and his supply officer. The latter appeared extremely well fed.

"I don't consider these terms that unfavorable, General," Sorca said after he'd read them. "We'll be well treated," he added, meaning the officers.

"They want to separate us into three camps, general, officers, NCOs, and enlisted ranks and on three separate worlds within their Coalition."

"Well, it's accepted doctrine on the handling of prisoners of war, General, to separate the leaders, to keep order in the camps."

"Yes, I know that, General Sorca and I also know it's against every convention of warfare to demand that POWs sign oaths not to take up arms against their captors if they're released. I know we have to go into three separate camps but I will not accept any arrangement where I can't personally visit and inspect the conditions in the camps maintained for my NCOs and enlisted people. I've led them here and I'm going to lead them in captivity as well, if it comes to that. Not negotiable."

"I think you should reconsider, sir."

"Not negotiable, General. And surrender is not an option either. We're too close to being relieved."

"We do not know that, sir," Sorca's face colored. "And we both know that when relief forces do arrive, if they do, they'll most likely be fed in piecemeal and all that'll mean is more prisoners for the Coalition to boast about."

"Gentlemen," Cazombi addressed all the officers standing around him, "we know this place is going to be the set-piece battle of this war. It'll be decided here, among the fleets in orbit and here on the ground. We must keep this foothold open! General Sorca's probably right, the Confederation will only be able at first-at first-to feed in reinforcements piecemeal. But if we hold out long enough, the preponderance of force will swing in our favor. I intend to accept the cease-fire offered, to gain every minute of time we can until decisive reinforcements can be landed, and then we shall break out of this hole and engage the enemy and defeat him. I charge all of you now with the responsibility of ensuring that our forces do not adopt a defensive mentality. I've been to every fighting position and, despite everything, morale is high. You all know the age-old prescription for battlefield victory: Morale is to firepower as three is to one, and we have that advantage! We must not lose it. So we cannot accept these terms."

"If that's the case, General, then why did you bother to call us here to 'discuss' these terms in the first place?" Sorca asked.

Cazombi did not let his face show what he really thought of the natty, white-haired brigadier general standing before him, his chest thrust out and one hand on his hip. "I wanted you to know what the terms were, General and I wanted you above all to know what my orders are. Now, gentlemen, to your posts."

"General?" Cazombi's operations officer took him aside for a moment. "What are our chances, really, sir? You've always leveled with me and you know I don't shoot my mouth off."

"Hank, they're grim, very grim. But if we can hold this place, that'll give the Confederation a foot in the door and I think the war will be decided here. What we have to pray for is front-line combat soldiers-Marines, Hank! That's who we need here and soon!"

Brigadier Balca Sorca took his operations officer aside. "I don't want our G4 in on this, the man's a blubbering idiot, a box kicker. You I can trust. That Cazombi, the man's a glory hound!" he whispered. "Any reasonable officer would have accepted the original surrender terms!"

"Don't you think the Coalition'd reneged on them by now, sir?"