Lt. Leary, Commanding by David Drake

This causeway would make a good target backstop, but this probably isn’t the time.

Daniel reached the causeway and stepped carefully into a smoldering divot gouged by the plasma cannon before pausing to take stock. A figure in coveralls sprawled on the road to the right. The only thing moving was the row of ribbons sewn along his seams, fluttering in the breeze.

Adele sat beside Daniel on a chunk of rock fill. Thermal shock had crazed the surface, but either it had cooled or this was another example of Adele’s unconcern for her physical comfort. She took out her personal data unit.

Daniel eyed the straggling mixture of woods, wire-fenced gardens, and stone houses to the south. The terrain was rolling, and the houses were generally built in clumps on the higher ground. Earthen mounds raised the two warehouses near the road ten feet above the surface.

Vehicles full of armed personnel moved on the paths between buildings. Even with his visor magnification at 160x Daniel couldn’t see any current fighting. Two houses burned sullenly, and occasionally sparks gouted from the spaceport well to the south.

“I can get you imagery from Kelburney’s command car if you like, Daniel,” Adele said. Her voice broke in mid-sentence for a cough, but she didn’t sound winded. “The turret has an electronic sight. Which I’ve tapped.”

How in heaven’s name . . . ? But the method didn’t matter, and the information certainly did. “Yes, please!” Daniel said. “Ah, Quadrant One.”

He didn’t want somebody else’s field of view covering his own completely. A compressed image on the upper left corner of his visor would give Daniel the information he required without preventing him from doing whatever might suddenly be required. Shooting an unexpected enemy, for example; though with Adele and Tovera both in the hole with him, that was of vanishingly low probability.

Several hundred people were coming toward the causeway on foot. Were they attacking, or—

“Boarders, don’t shoot!” Daniel said in sudden horror. Much of the crowd was children, and many of the adults carried infants or toddlers as well. His first thought was that all of them were unarmed, but that wasn’t technically true. A number of the figures wore holstered pistols, and one female carried a submachine gun slung across her back. She’d presumably forgotten about it; her arms were stretched out to hold the hands of a pair of three-year-old twins.

“Boarders, don’t shoot,” Daniel repeated. “They’re surrendering to us instead of taking their chances with Kelburney’s lot. On your honor, don’t shoot!”

The Dalbriggan image echoed onto the corner of Daniel’s visor provided a travelogue through the streets of Homeland. It was so smooth that he thought for a moment that Kelburney was in an aircar or at least an air cushion vehicle, but the forehull bobbled repeatedly into the bottom of the frame.

The gun was stabilized both in azimuth and deflection. It was mounted in the turret of a car armored so heavily that only a firm connection with the ground could support it. Daniel had briefly confused the smoothness of the sight picture with that of the vehicle itself.

The fighting was over; Daniel wanted to catch the Astrogator at the moment of triumph to have the best chance of succeeding with the next stage of his plan. “Lieutenant Mon,” he ordered. “Have someone bring the jeep to me immediately. I need to speak to Astrogator Kelburney. Out.”

“I can reach him, Daniel,” Adele said, looking up with a frown of concern. She must wonder if he believed she was incompetent.

Daniel laughed at the absurdity of the unspoken thought. “I believe face-to-face would be the better choice, Adele,” he said. “I’m going to have a hard sell, I’m afraid.”

The ringing whine of the fans lifting the little vehicle out of the Princess Cecile’s stern hold followed Daniel’s request by only moments. Vesey’s voice said, “Captain Leary, the jeep’s on the way to your position, out,” but the driver must have been not only prepared but cued into the command net.

Mon had cut corners to save time his commander might need. “A very good officer,” Daniel said aloud. To Adele’s raised eyebrow he added, “Lieutenant Mon, that is.”

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