The Tank Lords by David Drake

“Cooter,” said his friend, “I think you better take a look at this one yourself.”

Chief Lavel had been a gun captain. He knew about time and about movement orders; and he knew what he was saying.

“Cop!” Cooter swore. “He in his doss, then?”

The tank, the nameless one crewed by a couple newbies, settled back onto its skirts. The sergeant in the cupola looked down at Cooter. In formation, they’d be running well ahead of Flamethrower’s tailass Charlie slot.

“Negative,” said Chief. “He’s in his buddy’s bunk—you know, Platt’s? In the Logistics doss.”

Night fell like an axe at Camp Progress. Except for the red blur on the western horizon, the sun had disappeared completely in the past three minutes.

Cooter switched his visor to enhancement and checked to make sure the nameless tank was between him and Tootsie Six, then cut back to standard optical.

Depth perception was never quite as good on enhanced mode. There were enough lights on in the encampment for Cooter to find his way to the Logistics bunker/barracks.

Cooter tapped the shoulder of Gale, the right-wing gunner from Tootsie One-four, transferred to Flamethrower now that Otski and the other blower had both become casualties. Speaking on 12, the other lock-out push, to be heard over the fan noise, Cooter said, “Hold the fort, Windy. I’ll be back in a couple minutes max.”

“We’ll be bloody gone in a couple minutes, Cooter,” Gale replied.

He was an older man, nearly thirty; not a genius, but bright and competent enough that he’d ‘ve had a blower of his own years before had he not adamantly refused the promotion.

“Yeah, well,” Cooter said, climbing awkwardly past Speed Riddle’s clamshell and helmet stacked in front of the left tribarrel. “We’re last in line. Worst case, Shorty’ll have to make up a little time.”

Worst case, Captain Ranson would notice her second-in-command hadn’t pulled out on time and would check Flamethrower’s own sensors. If she found Cooter gone from his post now, she’d have him dragged behind a blower all the way back to Camp Progress as soon as the mission was over.

Which was pretty much what Cooter had in mind for Speed Riddle.

He lumbered across the ground, burdened by his armor and half-blinded by dust despite his lowered visor. Cooter was a big man, but no man was significant in an area packed with the huge, slowly-maneuvering masses of armored vehicles.

Logistics section—the warehouses, truck park, and bunkered sleeping quarters for the associated personnel—formed the boundary between the Slammers’ positions and the remainder of Camp Progress. Sappers who’d gotten through the Yokel defenses had bombed a parts shed and shot up a few trucks, but the Red section’s counterattack put paid to the Consies here before they’d really gotten rolling.

The doss—half dug into the berm, half sandbagged—was undamaged except for six plate-sized cups which a tribarrel had blasted from the front wall. There was a gap in the line of glassy impact craters where one round had splashed a Consie sapper instead of hitting the sandbags.

Chief Lavel stood in the doorway. He gestured to Cooter but hunched his way into the doss before the lieutenant arrived.

Chief tried to give himself a little advantage when there was anything tricky to do, like negotiating the double step that put the floor of the doss below ground level for safety. He got around amazingly well for a man missing his left arm and leg, though.

Outside the bunker, armored vehicles filled the evening with hot lubricant and the sharpness of ozone arcing away from dirty relays. The bunker’s interior stank of human waste.

“What the . . . ?” Cooter muttered as he followed Chief down the narrow hallway along the front wall of the structure. A glowstrip was tacked to the ceiling; Cooter’s helmet scraped it. He swore, ducked, and then straightened to bump again.

Board partitions made from packing cases divided the doss into rooms—decent-sized ones for Lavel and his permanent staff and, at the far end, tiny cubicles to house transients like the drivers making supply runs. The rooms were empty; the personnel were either involved with the departure or watching it.

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