“Very,” Mace said. “Miscowsky has it under observation. That’s real time data.”
Owensford smiled thinly. “Looks like they’re packing up to leave.”
“Yes, sir, looks like that to me, too,” Andy Lahr said. “Maybe we ought to help them—”
“No doubt.” Owensford turned to Jameson Mace. “Jamey, you’ve got full priority on Thoth bundles one through four, secondary after that. Use ’em when your team on the spot thinks we’ll get the most out of them.”
“Roger,” Mace said. “It’s a judgment call. The longer we wait, the more chance the scouts will have of blocking their escape. On the other hand, the sooner we strike, the more we get before they bug out at all. Then there’s the business of the Helot commander.”
Owensford turned knobs to scroll the map to the ridge above the river camp. “Last traced to this area. I see McLaren’s moving in there now. Andy, see if you can get McLaren on the line.”
“Aye aye.”
“McLaren here.”
“Captain, what are you finding up there?”
“Dead and dying, Colonel. Little else. If they can run they’ve done it. And the usual. Our lads, hands tied, throats cut, or bayonetted. Or worse, I will no describe some of what we’ve seen. ‘Tis no easy on my lads—”
“It’s not supposed to be,” Owensford said. “That’s what the Helots are counting on. They want to turn us into beasts no better than they are. Don’t let them.”
“Aye.”
“Easier to say than do,” Andy Lahr muttered.
Owensford nodded. “Captain, any sign of the rebel commander?”
“Now, how would I know if I found such?” McLaren demanded.
“Sorry, forgot you weren’t in on that conversation. The Helot commander’s a woman,” Owensford said. “At least the voice was contralto.”
“Och. Well, there are no women up here, Colonel. No women at all, and sights here no woman should see. Except that one, and I suppose she saw it all. She’s no here, Colonel.”
* * *
Geoffrey Niles let the river carry him down past the Spartan encampments. He had lashed himself to the bleeding corpse of one of his troops. The now useless chemical protection gear kept his clothing dry. It also kept him afloat, and the current soon took him out of the combat zone.
I told them it wouldn’t work, he thought. Too complex. I told them.
There was no place to go. His command was destroyed. There was supposed to be an emergency rendezvous point, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to go there. Would Skilly understand there was nothing he could have done? No more any of them could do? Skida Thibodeau wasn’t one to take excuses for failure. Even if the failure was hers? Because of her plan? But she wasn’t likely to admit that.
He thought of surrender, but he was afraid to do that. Gas. War gas. The books talked about hanging officers for using poison gas. It wasn’t my fault! I didn’t want to do that.
He could say they hadn’t told him. It would even be true. They’d said non-lethal chemical agents in the planning sessions. Of course everyone had known better. There were no non-lethal agents effective enough for what they’d attempted. Even the war gasses, the lethal agents Murusaki used, hadn’t been good enough. Nothing had been good enough.
What could we have done? They’d been good troops, all of them, they’d done all that courage could do, and it hadn’t been good enough. We were so close, a little more and we’d have had his artillery, then we could have punished the Brotherhood troops, but it wasn’t good enough, the plan, the gas, none of it was enough.
Should it have been good enough? It had seemed so romantic, help the poor against the Spartan aristocracy, overthrow the tyrants, but the Spartan kings weren’t tyrants. Not at all. And the poor, the downtrodden—
He thought of what Skilly had ordered. Kill all the prisoners. His troops would have obeyed, but of course he hadn’t transmitted that order. Some of them had done terrible things on their own, but at least they hadn’t killed all those Brotherhood troops, the wounded ones they’d captured, the ones disabled by gas.
I didn’t do that, anyway. But Skilly had ordered it. And worse. That female Lieutenant, the one from the airplane. Jeff hadn’t been there, but he’d heard what happened.
I was on the wrong side. This isn’t Lawrence of Arabia. No romance here. This isn’t anything I want to be part of.
The current carried him around another bend of the river. He was far from the combat zone now. He began to shiver. The cold was seeping in despite his protective gear. It was time to get out of the water. He watched for a sandbar, some place to land.
I want to go home, he thought. But where was home?
* * *
Ten’ ‘hut!”
“Please,” Lysander said. The command bunker was crowded, and everyone was standing to attention. Officers moved out of the way to allow Lysander and Harv to get to the big map table. When he got to the table, Lysander looked to Peter Owensford for help. “Please,” he repeated.
“Carry on,” Owensford said. “Welcome to the command center, Your Highness. Have you instructions?”
“Colonel, you’re in command of this force—”
“Tactical command,” Owensford said. “Yes, sir. Shall we review the situation for you?”
“Colonel, you’re embarrassing me—”
“Prince Lysander, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” Owensford said.
“Well, I hadn’t really intended to assume command—”
“You hadn’t intended to, but you did, and that’s all to the good,” Owensford said. “Highness, unity of command is the most important principle of war. Having you as a battalion commander violated that principle. Nothing bad came of it, but something could have, and I for one am glad it’s over.” He shrugged. “Captain Bennington will see to the Prince Royal’s Own. No one expects you to take tactical command here. I’ll give the orders. You just tell me what you want accomplished.”
Lysander nodded. His face was grim. “I want you to make the most of this pursuit,” he said. “I’ve seen—I’ve been up on the hill where they had over a hundred Brotherhood prisoners. And in the field hospitals with the troops who were gassed.” He shuddered. “The only thing worse than doing that to them would be to have done it for nothing.”
“You didn’t do it, Prince,” Harv said quietly.
“Your Phraetrie brother is right,” Owensford said. “You didn’t do it. That’s what these people want you to think, that it’s your fault that your people were killed. It wasn’t your fault. They’re the ones who did this, not you.”
“Yes. Thank you. All right, Colonel, what is our status?”
“Quite good, actually,” Owensford said. “As is often the case, the bold course has proven to be the best. We lost a number of prisoners to terrorist crimes, but many of them would not have survived anyway. Meanwhile our assault casualties have been surprisingly light, and we have been able to inject SAS and Scout teams into positions to block enemy retreat paths. We have relay units to observers spotting in the enemy camp headquarters itself. Finally, we rescued forty-seven prisoners, all wounded, down by the river. The Helot officer there either didn’t get the order to kill the prisoners, or didn’t obey it.”
“Who was he?”
“We don’t know. He’s probably dead. That unit was the spearhead of this crazy stunt, and took very heavy casualties. We’re sorting through the survivors, but so far no one admits to being any kind of commander.”
Lysander nodded. “Find out, please. Assuming it’s possible, of course.”
“Wilco,” Andy Lahr said.
“Please continue,” Lysander said. “Sorry to interrupt.”
“Yes, sir.” Owensford used his light pen to mark a region on the map table. The computer zoomed in on the area. “Their main force was here. They had been advancing prior to the failure of the gas attack. They then halted, milled around a while, and after we rejected their leader’s offer of a cease-fire, dug in and resisted.”
“Dug in,” Lysander said. “Does that make sense? I’d have thought they would run away.”
“So would we,” Jesus Alana said. “My conclusion is that they were ordered to hold on to cover the escape of their leaders.”
“Which worked,” Owensford added. “Or something did. We haven’t caught anyone higher ranking than their equivalent of a lieutenant, and both of those were wounded. But it cost them. By the time that force was ready to break and run we had not only pounded it pretty bad, but we had scout units across their line of escape. We don’t think more than ten percent of their main unit got away.”
“Good,” Lysander said. “But those ten percent are their officers?” Owensford nodded. Lysander shook his head ruefully. “All right, what about their technical people?”
“Definitely Meiji mercenaries,” Jesus Alana said. “We have found three. All dead, of course. We are hoping for more when we assault the Helot headquarters area.”